More Evidence That City Hall Is Failing Us And Our One-Way Streets

Without a sign facing north above the intersection of 6th & Columbia that says WRONG WAY DO NOT ENTER, the city continues to prove that it is failing to keep our streets and intersections as safe as possible.  This is also true at all the other intersections in town that include a one-way street where vehicles can too easily be headed in the wrong direction because of the city's minimal amount of effort to prevent the all-too-common dangerous situation.

Take the car I came across today that was waiting at a north-facing red light at 6th & Columbia, an intersection along the truck route known for vehicle accidents.  When the driver rolled his window down to see why I was waving at him, he still had no idea what I was talking about after I asked him, while pointing north, "Do you know this is a one-way street?"  After a blank stare toward me, I pointed to the one-way sign to his right, suggesting, "Read the sign."  He read it and immediately blurted out, "Oh, f#*&!"  (Keep in mind that sign is intended for westbound Columbia Street drivers ready to turn onto 6th, not for drivers headed the wrong way on 6th.  It is a sign that is essentially no help to anyone.)

I'm pretty sure that the driver was originally planning on driving straight through to, and possibly beyond, Warren Street, but he turned right onto Columbia instead, avoiding the car headed his way.  He probably then made a turn onto one-way 5th Street, hopefully taking a left.

A simple and inexpensive effort that would help to prevent vehicles from heading in the wrong direction on our one-way streets (and keeping wrong way vehicles from approaching intersections) would be large white arrows painted on the pavement, especially at intersections with alleys from which many drivers turn to head in the wrong direction.  The ONE WAY signs at those intersections often go unnoticed.

The wrong way driver I saw today likely entered 6th Street from Long Alley, though possibly from State Street where, as of last fall, there are no ONE WAY signs preventing drivers from turning south onto 6th Street.  What ONE WAY signs are posted around town are obviously insufficient anymore.  Some alley/street intersections, such as 6th & Long, have just one double-sided ONE WAY sign, while others have two (as all should) -- one on each side of the street at the alley.  Full exposure and no excuse not to know which way the traffic flows!

No view of the one-way sign.  No stop sign,
stop line or crosswalk.  Nothing!  (Long Alley
headed west, approaching 6th)

Now you see it... maybe.  Still no stop sign.

Now you don't again.  Still no stop sign or line.
Nothing!

Eastbound Long Alley at 6th.  A lone 
one-way sign is inadequate.  Where is 
the unmissable arrow on the pavement?

I'm pretty certain that our no-show Police Commissioner Shane Bower would find a reason or three not to implement either of my suggestions, even if they came to him from a council member. No doubt, one of the reasons, perhaps the only reason, would be: "There have not been enough accidents on any of these one-way streets or at any of these intersections involving drivers headed in the wrong direction."

"And exactly how many accidents do you require before you consider doing something to prevent more accidents, Shane?"

It would be nice if someone from City Hall would start paying attention to our increasingly unsafe streets.

The intersection of 7th & State is a prime candidate for a nasty accident if a car or truck ever heads the wrong way on 7th without slowing down for the intersection.  The fact that there is NOTHING to prevent a wrong way driver from entering that intersection is unforgiveable.  It's an invitation to a possibly fatal T-bone accident, maybe even a dead cyclist or pedestrian or two.  Who is to blame?  Is it the former Hudson cop who never attends common council meetings?  What's his name?  Who does he work for?  Where does he work from?  Does he care one bit about safe Hudson streets or drivers headed the wrong way on one-way streets?  How would we ever know?!  

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