City Hall Responds: "Let's Continue To Do Nothing About The Problem!" (And Hope No One Is Killed?)

Saturday afternoon. Ruined day, ruined car.  

On Saturday afternoon there was yet another car crash at the intersection of Columbia & 4th.  Three vehicles were involved, at least one of them appearing to be totaled.  According to what I overheard one driver explain to a Hudson police officer, the vehicle that caused the accident was a black pickup truck on Columbia that ran the red light. That vehicle had a slightly dented rear end.  The woman passenger in the car that suffered the most damage and spilled so much fluid on the street was still in her car with her steering wheel air bag employed when I arrived 5 or 6 minutes after the crash.  She did not appear to be in much pain, but most definitely required medical attention.  It's possible that she could not open the door.

Saturday's accident, like previous ones at that intersection, was likely preventable.  However, it's pretty clear that Hudson City Hall is not at all interested in preventing accidents at Columbia & 4th (as well as Columbia & 5th and Columbia & 6th).  City Hall is mainly interested in doing nothing about the problem at Columbia & 4th.  Hell, they may not even see the intersection as a problem.  It's just the way it is, always has been and always will be.  Expect accidents there!

The driver's side of this car sustained 
serious damage.

Ran the red light, minimal damage

Officer Strattman, who was off duty and 
just happened to be driving by, speaking to 
the driver still in her car 10 minutes after the accident.

Broken record: There are NO STOP LINES at this intersection along the truck route and the traffic light hangs almost directly above the westbound lane of traffic. The intersection is flawed in more ways than one, and it is just a matter of time before someone is killed or seriously injured there.

The driver of the vehicle that caused the TWO OTHER VEHICLES TO CRASH INTO ONE ANOTHER was headed east and blew the red light hanging high above and to his left. It seems that when a red light on that traffic light is ignored it is always, or almost always, by drivers headed east on Columbia. DUH!  Why would that be?

One light to the left, no paint anywhere.
Solution?  City Hall continues to do nothing but
regularly respond to accidents there.

The intersections on Warren Street at 6th and at 7th Streets both have TWO TRAFFIC LIGHTS FOR EACH DIRECTION OF TRAFFIC!! Last week, each end of the newly paved Franklin Street was given a bright white stop line.  Quiet Franklin Street, far from the truck route, has a pair of stop lines while the intersection of 4th & Columbia along the truck route has none! 

Two traffic lights for one lane of traffic, 
with one crosswalk, no stop line and few trucks
to be seen.  Accidents are rare here (Warren & 6th)

Franklin Street at Prospect, by no means a
busy intersection: one stop line, no trucks.  (There is
room for a crosswalk, but one was not installed)

One dusty, old and small traffic light hanging over 
the westbound lane of the truck route, no stop
lines, no crosswalks, no nothin'!  Accidents are 
common here, about every 3 months on average.

Last year

The previous accident at the troubled 4th & Columbia intersection occurred on February 20th, though I have no details about that one. That seems about right - an accident there at least every 3 months! And everyone at City Hall just shrugs their shoulders!

There is something so deeply flawed about how our city government operates and is structured that there is likely only one solution to ridding Hudson City Hall of its dysfunction: To start all over, like a gangrenous leg that needs to be amputated to save the body.

This is the only thing telling eastbound 
drivers on Columbia at 4th to stop

If our DPW can't replace a dirty lens on
the only traffic light at a busy, accident-
prone intersection, what else can't they do?

I responded to Saturday's accident within about 4 minutes after having been notified of it a minute or two after the crash (someone heard the impact from a long block away at 5th & Columbia!).  No police officers or emergency vehicles were at the scene when I arrived.  Two minutes later, Officer Strattman pulled up in his personal vehicle on his way through town.  One accident victim was still in her car.  Two minutes later, an on-duty HPD officer arrived, then ambulances.  My sense on Saturday afternoon was that two HPD officers were on duty.

About ten minutes later, an HPD vehicle left the scene and headed up Columbia.  That cop was responding to a two-car accident on Columbia near 8th Street!  (Notice the damage to the blue car)

Our streets are not equipped to safely handle the amount
of traffic we have.  It is only worsening and going to 
continue to worsen.