I Tried To Warn Them! Now I Am Back Again!

On Tuesday, November 5th of this year, at 10:00 am, there was a two-car crash at the intersection of 5th & State.  From inside the Hudson Area Library, I heard the unmistakable sound of vehicles impacting one another and I knew exactly what, where and why it had happened.  Unsurprisingly, what I did not hear prior to the impact was the sound of horns being blown or car tires skidding from sudden braking.  The crash played out just as I had known it would.  You see, I had been warning the Hudson Police Department and others at City Hall for months via email with pictures that a crash (not an "accident") of just the type that occurred was inevitable.  My warnings fell on deaf ears, apparently.

According to HPD's accident report for the crash which I tried my best to warn them about, 7 Hudson Police Department employees responded to the scene at 5th & State.  SEVEN!  They were:  Chief Mishanda Franklin (you know it's serious!), officer Keyser, Sergeants Roberts and Hodges, Lieutenants Keyser and Miller, and Detective Duntz.  That may have been everyone at the police station that day!  A few days after the accident, I got a rare phone message from Chief Franklin saying that she wanted to "talk to me about the accident at 5th & State," even though I was not a witness to the crash.  We played phone tag for about a week, but she never followed through.  I still can't figure out what she wanted to talk to me about.  Advice on preventing future accidents at the intersection?  Help in predicting her future?

The driver of the car which was struck in the middle of the intersection while headed south on 5th Street (and had the right of way in the intersection) was taken to Albany Medical Center by Greenport EMS for reasons I am unaware of (that info is redacted from the report).  The driver of the car which entered the intersection at 20 or 30 miles an hour headed east on State was trapped in her car and eventually taken to CMH.  Both drivers were from Hudson, and their cars were towed away -- a 2020 Tesla and a 2014 Dodge. 

Both drivers told officers on the scene that they were not sure exactly who and what caused the crash.  (Hell, I only heard the crash, but I knew.)   According to the report, both video footage and a witness to the accident clearly showed that the red Tesla failed to stop at the State Street stop sign and then hit the Dodge in the middle of the intersection.  Video footage, or any cop or police chief looking around, would have also made it clear that a tall black van was parked so close to the State Street stop sign that the driver must not have even caught a glimpse of it before proceeding into the intersection with foot on the accelerator the entire time.  

When the tall van is parked in the space directly adjacent to the stop sign, the sign is literally impossible to see from the traffic lane it is facing, even when drivers do stop at the stop line.  When parked in the next space further from the sign, no driver can see the stop sign until the last moment before the stop line and intersection.

I took this picture in July, including it in an 
email to City Hall on July 15th, nearly 4 months
prior to the "accident."  Both 4th ward council 
members were included in the email. 

When an officer asked the driver of the Tesla -- the one who failed to stop -- for their driver's license, "she stated that she did not have one," according to the report.  There was such a language barrier with that driver that HPD needed assistance in translating from a passerby who just happened to speak English and Spanish.

A week or two prior to the inevitable crash, around dusk, I was on my bicycle headed west on State Street toward the intersection with 5th Street.  A car about 75 feet in front of me headed in the same direction slammed on its brakes as it got to the intersection, coming to a screeching halt well past the stop line and well into the intersection.  As I approached, I noticed the black van parked about 15 feet from the stop sign, which the driver had apparently noticed the moment before slamming on their brakes.

About 10 minutes prior to the crash, as I prepared to cross State Street to reach the library, I noticed that the tall black van was once again parked close to, and blocking, the stop sign.  This was probably the twelfth time I had seen the same van blocking drivers' view of the stop sign, and, as the many times before, I shook my head and said to myself, "There will be a crash, just wait and see." Ten minutes later, BOOM!

For weeks following the crash, I noticed that the parked tall black van that was the focus of my repeated warnings to HPD and City Hall was no longer parking on the south side of State Street.  Now it was parking either around the corner on 5th, south of State, or on State Street facing west nowhere near a stop sign.  It was obvious to me that HPD had finally spoken to the owner of the tall commercial vehicle, someone who lives and works in the neighborhood. 

3 days after the crash at 5th & State, I took 
this driver's view picture of a white van blocking
the view of the stop sign on State.  It remained parked 
there for at least 24 hours, even receiving one 
overnight wrong side parking ticket.  As far as I 
know it did not cause any "accidents."

Then the other day while bicycling on 5th headed toward State, I came across this:

The same black commercial van blocking the view of 
the 2nd of 3 stop signs at the busy intersection.
Can we try for 3 of 3?

"I didn't see any stop sign, officer!  Yes,
please call an ambulance, my head really hurts.
Did I kill that guy on his bicycle? Is he dead?"

The city official who is supposedly in charge of traffic safety in Hudson is a mysterious guy by the name of Shane Bower who we don't hear enough from.  EVER.  While Shane's title has been POLICE COMMISSIONER for the past few years, our current and former police chiefs have made it abundantly clear that Shane "does not work for HPD.  He works for the city," whatever the fuck that means.  When you peel back the rotten onion, you can't help but notice that Police Commissioner Shane Bower is essentially MIA and has no real interest in, or qualifications for, dealing with traffic safety and making our streets less prone to preventable "accidents."  So, of course, preventable "accidents" like the one at 5th & State early last month should come as no surprise to anyone.  Heck, 7 HPD men and women showed up to that crash scene that sent two people to separate hospitals, but I didn't see Shane Bower there asking questions or surveying the scene.  Did anyone even call him or try to track him down to get his take on the situation at 5th & State? 

HA, don't get me started!

Stay tuned for a HUDseen story about a recent similar situation 2 blocks away at 7th & State where an "accident" resulted in this: