This Happens Far Too Often!!! And It Is Worsening! Does Rob Perry Care? Does Kamal Johnson Care?

 

Yesterday afternoon while in my car, waiting second in line on North 4th Street at Columbia for the red light to turn green, I noticed something that no longer surprises me.  

The situation in Hudson with wrong way drivers has gotten completely out of hand.  City Hall yawns.  

When the light turned green, the driver in the Jeep ahead of me motioned to the wrong way driver to turn in front of them.  The wrong way driver did just that, and the two of us on 4th were then able to proceed safely.  I suppose if there hadn't been any cars facing the wrong way driver, he or she may have just crossed Columbia and continued heading south on North 4th to get to Warren or Union.  That driver may have put their turn blinker on only because they realized that they had no other option than to turn, now knowing that they were actually on a one-way street headed the wrong way.  Oopsie!

In the past two weeks I have seen three cars headed the wrong way on one-way streets -- 4th, 5th and 6th!!!!  The trifecta!

First it was on 5th.  While on the sidewalk on North 5th just north of Warren (at Prison Alley) in the daytime, I noticed a white car that had just turned off of Warren heading toward me.  The driver and the car made it to a red light at Columbia (where there is no WRONG WAY DO NOT ENTER sign) without stopping, even after I yelled as loud as I could "WRONG WAY" as the male driver passed by me.  Fortunately, no vehicles were headed in the proper direction, nor did any vehicles try to turn onto 5th from the alley or from Columbia as the wrong way vehicle approached the light, waited at the light and eventually turned.  This was at least the third time I have seen this happen on North 5th in the past few years.

A few days later, at about 7 pm, I was stoop sitting near the intersection of 6th & State, a particularly fascinating portion of the Speed Limit Sign-Free State Street Speedway!  I watched a red car headed east on State stop at the stop sign then turn right headed the wrong way on 6th Street.  (The driver did not see or pass any ONE WAY signs because there haven't been any there for a few years.  After one of the two fell over -- it had been secured by wire to the utility pole on the southwest corner -- DPW took both away and never brought them back.)  About one second after the car was out of sight, I heard the honk of a horn.  I waited.  Moments later, as I had anticipated, the wrong way car came back into view, backing out of 6th.   The car turned 90 degrees in the middle of the intersection and headed east on State once again.  Of course, you know what I saw next!  The car on 6th that had just honked its horn came into view at the stop sign, stopped, proceeded across State and continued heading north on 6th.  Of course, that honking I heard could just as easily have been the sound of two cars meeting head on.

The two DO NOT ENTER signs facing north are not 
intended for drivers on State, they are intended for 
drivers headed south on 6th that must turn onto State.

Then there was yesterday on 4th.  Will it be 7th Street sometime soon?***  How about 8th!

WE NEED PAINTED ARROWS ON ALL OF OUR ONE WAY STREETS.  ONE LARGE WHITE ARROW AT EACH ALLEY INTERSECTION AND ONE AT THE OTHER INTERSECTIONS WHERE VEHICLES ARE NOT TO TURN.  THE ONE WAY SIGNS ARE CLEARLY INSUFFICIENT.  THIS TOWN IS TOO BUSY WITH CARS AND TRUCKS TO KEEP RELYING ON THE LITTLE SIGNS.  THEY ARE NO LONGER KEEPING US (PARTICULARLY PEDESTRIANS AND CYCLISTS) SAFE IF THEY EVER WERE.

***Speaking of 7th Street, I recently FOILED -- for the second time in 6 months -- for the HPD accident report that exists for the two-car crash which occurred at the dangerous intersection of 7th & State on a December evening last year.  And for the second time my request was denied on the basis that releasing the accident report "would interfere with judicial proceedings."   Though I could be wrong, I am under the belief that the city has been sued by one or both of the drivers for causing that crash.  When I finally get my eyes on that accident report (which I will), HUDseen readers will be the first to know the details of that crash on December 6th at 7th Street along the State Street Speedway.  I wouldn't be surprised at all if a car entered the intersection after exiting the one-way portion 7th Street headed north in the wrong direction.  No one should be surprised if that was the case.

And that is the macro issue here, isn't it?  City Hall Wrong considers wrong way driving to be normal.  Unavoidable, perhaps.  So, why do anything to prevent it?  Why try to even pay attention to it?