It's Like They Don't Care! And Maybe They Don't.

While no details have yet been made public regarding Sunday's vehicle "accident" at 3rd & Warren involving a pedestrian, no one paying attention to what has been going at that intersection for years should be surprised that a pedestrian-related incident took place there.  If things don't change, someone else will get hit, and someone  may even die. But it likely won't be a driver or passenger in a multi-ton metal vehicle -- possibly one with 18 wheels -- who is rushed to the hospital.  Considering how busy that intersection along the truck route is with feet and wheels, it could be more than one person being hit and injured or killed.  It is well beyond time for City Hall to stop ignoring the dangerous situations for pedestrians there, one of which HUDseen focused on just TWO DAYS before the "accident."   I'm afraid, though, that getting anyone's attention to an issue as important as this is like pissing in the wind.

On Friday afternoon at 4 pm, several hours after I posted the article focusing on regular -- but preventable -- traffic congestion causing trouble for pedestrians at 3rd & Warren, I was biking up a very busy Warren Street chocked with cars moving, stopped and parked.  From about 75 feet away from the intersection, I noticed the entirety of yet another fucking car completely stopped on 3rd Street in the intersection and with its front end completely blocking the pedestrian crosswalk, the driver obviously waiting for the several cars ahead of it to begin moving to get beyond the traffic light at 3rd & Union.  It's a situation no driver should be put into and a situation that no pedestrians, including children, should have to contend with.  The same goes for dogs.  

After noticing the immobile car, it took me about 7 seconds to get a photo of it, a sight that is far too common at the intersection:

About 3 or 4 seconds later the car was able to move south, meaning the car had been stuck there where it shouldn't have been for at least 10 seconds, possibly even 15 or 20.  Remember, the red light that the driver was waiting to turn green lasts 30 seconds.  Eventually that white car, as well as 3 cars ahead of it, did not get past the 20-second green light at Union.  They had no chance to.  Yes, it took only 20 seconds for another line of cars -- 4 this time -- to form on South 3rd Street, heading back to Warren and waiting for 30 seconds to create a much longer line.  The process never ends on busy days -- sometimes the end of the line of cars and trucks reaches the crosswalk at Warren, sometimes it doesn't.

6th & Warren, all partial shields.

There are 5 intersections along Warren Street that have traffic lights; 3 of them have hanging signals and two have ground-mounted signals. As difficult as it is to comprehend, there are two hanging  signals (a pair of reds, yellows and greens) facing each direction at 6th and 7th streets, but just one signal at the busier intersection along the truck route at 3rd Street. With one signal facing north for one-way 6th Street, all 15 (!) of the signals at the two intersections on upper Warren have a huge distinction to the 4 sets of lights on the one signal hanging over 3rd & Warren: they all have what are known as partial shields. The shields are like visors for each individual light, blocking out glare from the sun. Typically, though, partial shields are only used in urban settings, primarily because full shields ARE A SERIOUS HINDRANCE FOR PEDESTRIANS TO SAFELY CROSS THE STREETS in that they block the view of the lights for pedestrians standing at a corner hoping to cross "on the green." Drivers can easily see red, green and yellow traffic lights that are surrounded by full light shields; pedestrians struggle or find it impossible to see them. Drivers can see traffic lights with partial shields as easily as pedestrians can. All of the ground-mounted traffic lights (at 4th and at 5th) have partial shields.  Full traffic light shields are nothing more than a huge middle finger to pedestrians; there is no need for them at any intersection where sidewalks and pedestrians can be found.  They make intersections dangerous and awkward for walking humans.  They are an insult to anyone trying to navigate an intersection who is not driving an automobile.

7th & Warren, no full shields. (2 of the intersection's 
8 signals are out of the picture)

With no pedestrian crossing signals at 3rd & Warren, it's almost comical to watch how many pedestrians, often in large groups, enter the intersection when they are not supposed to, when they don't have the right of way, and when they are endangering their own lives.  (It's so crazy that resident Peter Spear felt the need to create a short documentary about it 7 years ago.  It's worth tracking down if you've never watched it, even if for just the first scene.  Nothing has improved or changed at the intersection since Spear released his video.)  Many pedestrians -- some on the sidewalk, some a step or two into the street -- look up at the light and have no idea what color the light or lights are, so they just head across anyway.  Pedestrians crossing on the red is a constant, regardless of the 4 small CROSS ONLY ON GREEN signs DPW installed there a few years ago.  It's true, DPW bought and installed CROSS ONLY ON GREEN signs even though the suggestion to cross safely is a near impossibility to achieve at the city's busiest intersection.  What the fuck is up with that shit?  Stand at the intersection to just observe people crossing the streets and there can be just one conclusion:  the city hasn't done one goddamn thing to make the intersection safe for pedestrians.  In fact, thanks to the eleven full shields on the signal, the city has made it as difficult and dangerous as possible an intersection for pedestrians.  3rd & Warren is an ANTI-PEDESTRIAN INTERSECTION.  It is designed to put pedestrians in harm's way!  Keep those precious cars and trucks moving along safely (until they try to get past Union and Allen Streets, that is)!

Pictured below is a pedestrian's perspective of the traffic signal at 3rd & Warren from the southwest corner. The only light that is ever plain to see of the six that pedestrians rely on is the one with the partial shield facing west, the green facing west.  The red facing wet is impossible to see when it is on.  The green and the red facing south are both impossible to see from the corner.  Literally impossible! Why the hell aren't all 12 of the lights surrounded by partial shields?  Why is there just one partial shield on this signal?  Is it a joke brought to us courtesy of DPW?  HPD?  Both?  Confused and clueless pedestrians getting run over by cars and trucks is a laughing matter, isn't it!  One way or the other we'll get them!

A signal nearly full of full shields! At 
least they got one of them right!

All 45 of the individual traffic lights at 6th & Warren and 7th & Warren have pedestrian-friendly partial shields surrounding them, making crossing the street on a green light an easy task. Just one of the 12 individual lights at 3rd & Warren has a partial shield. It is as if DPW would prefer that the city's busiest downtown intersection be the most dangerous of all for pedestrians.  Intentionally!  Someone chose to put all those full shields on that signal; it didn't just happen by accident. And someone has chosen to leave them on there for all these years.

The picture below shows a pedestrian's view of the signal from the southeast corner of 3rd & Warren, a corner where no curb ramp exists on the Warren side and the curb is at least 5 inches tall.  Notice that there is no way for a pedestrian to determine which two lights of the six are lit up.  These are the lights that pedestrians must rely on to make the decision to cross the street or not.  "Cross Only On Green"?  Fuck you, too!  So, what do pedestrians tend to do?  How about just ignore the useless fucking signal and go across the street essentially blindly hoping traffic will stop!

That traffic signal is there for drivers of multi-ton automobiles, not pedestrians.

Maybe the woman who was hit on Sunday had the right of way while crossing the street, maybe she didn't.  Maybe the video will show that she looked up at the light to see if it was safe to cross, looked a few more seconds in befuddlement and just decided to cross anyway, not knowing which direction of vehicle traffic should be stopped or stopping.  Like so many others, because of the full shields completely blocking the view of green, red and yellow lights that should be assisting pedestrians, she may also have been unknowingly putting herself in danger by walking across a street that she shouldn't have been walking across because the traffic light high above the intersection was of absolutely no help to her.  Maybe she was confused, as many are.

Or maybe she was forced out of the pedestrian crosswalk by a stopped car blocking it and then got whacked from behind by a car that had a green light.

Several years ago at a common council meeting, I heard the most absurd thing come from Police Chief Ed Moore's mouth.  A council member or two had brought up the issue of how unsafe the intersection of 3rd & Warren is for pedestrians, suggesting that the city install pedestrian crossing signals for all 8 directions of foot traffic. (This came, I believe, shortly after Peter Spear released his video.)  Ed dismissed the idea outright by saying that "the State DOT has a stack of regulations a mile high," implying that since DOT has jurisdiction over traffic signals in the City of Hudson there was no way pedestrian signals would ever get the nod from DOT.  Nothing could have been further from the truth, because DOT has nothing to do with anything on our streets.  DOT can help guide us on what to do if we ask them or consultant their official manual on traffic control devices, but they do not and cannot tell the city what to do or not to do.  The DOT does not regulate anything the city does with traffic control devices, period.  But it didn't matter one bit that our police chief was offering nonsense, either intentionally or not.  Ed Moore sounded like he knew what he was talking about, so no council members asked him to explain or questioned his claim.  And so, the issue of pedestrian safety at 3rd & Warren was put to rest for at least another several years.  And I don't doubt that our current police chief, if asked, would say the same thing as her predecessor did.  And Rob Perry would just laugh.

It's like they would all prefer that the truck route intersection of 3rd & Warren in the heart of downtown Hudson remain as unsafe as possible for pedestrians, including residents.  Surprise, surprise, a pedestrian was struck by a vehicle there the other day!  What did they expect?  What will they do to prevent the next "accident" there along the truck route?

As an aside:  When the next collision occurs at 7th & State that HUDseen either witnesses, arrives late to or otherwise becomes aware of, readers will be the first to know about it.  Both the Pocketbook Hudson business complex on 6th Street and Galvan's apartment building on 7th Street (including, for now, one retail business) have made that intersection somewhat busier with foot traffic and much busier with vehicle traffic, mainly with cars and the occasional truck exiting 7th at State. Vehicles on State race by that intersection that is still the only one on State Street without stop signs or signals for both directions of State Street traffic. The situation there mirrors what has been going on at 3rd & State for years: the city welcomes development and visitors, our streets and intersections get busier, but the city does nothing to mitigate or prevent the inevitable results: vehicles collisions that can easily involve people just trying to get across the street.  

For example, there are no painted crosswalks at 7th & State.  Not one!  Maybe there never have been.  Yet, one year ago at 7th & State, in the dark of night after Winter Walk on Saturday, December 7th, a woman and her child were knocked to the ground by a turning vehicle whose driver claimed to have not seen the victims.   At the subsequent Common Council meeting after Police Chief Franklin mentioned the incident (saying no one was seriously hurt), Vicky Daskaloudi asked Franklin if there were any pedestrian crosswalks at the intersection.  Mishanda Franklin, who was in between maternity leaves, said something along these lines:  "There aren't any crosswalks there, but I believe there have been discussions about installing some."  Is that so?  End of discussion.  Sorry, not interested.  

Early in the afternoon about a week ago, from the sidewalk one block away, I heard a Fed Ex truck traveling east on State come to a screeching halt at 7th Street.  The truck had to be speeding, because when I looked up it was literally rocking back and forth. With the driver's door open, I could hear the driver cursing at the top of his lungs at the driver in the red car who had pulled out in front of him to get from one side of 7th Street to the other.  I caught a glimpse of the car as it quickly made its way to Columbia Street.  The truck probably stopped short of the car by one foot, perhaps inches.  Had the truck not stopped, there would have been a mess to clean up and HPD would have spent hours responding and writing reports. Cause of "accident"?  Driver on 7th Street did not yield right of way to truck on State Street. Just another crash on the State Street Speedway at the only intersection with no stop signs or lights for State Street traffic!  This is an intersection that is now surrounded by businesses and new residential apartments but with the same old sorry intersection lacking anything to reflect the increase in vehicle and foot traffic.  Even the only stop line at the intersection is well faded away.  Pedestrian crosswalks to warn drivers of humans crossing the street?  Surely you jest!  DPW can't fucking afford them! They spent all their extra funds on Cross Only On Green signs along Warren Street! Crosswalks are more costly than the value of a human life or two, that's for sure! 

On Thursday evening, December 6th, 2024 -- the night before Winter Walk!!! -- there was a horrible vehicle collision at 7th & State.  I arrived a few minutes later to take a few pictures.  Hmmm... we had two consecutive nights with vehicle "accidents" at 7th & State, one involving pedestrians.  

For 11 months, via the Freedom of Information Law, I have been trying to obtain HPD's accident report for this crash.  Yesterday, for at least the 5th time, HPD once again failed to offer me the accident report.  Instead, I got this same response in the form of a letter signed by Lt. Jeffrey Keyser:  "Please be advised that the records located responsive to your request concern a case that is pending adjudication, therefore your request is denied.  Per the Columbia County District's Office this record may not be released in any form prior [sic]the conclusion of the criminal case in Hudson City Court."

My gut feeling is that the City of Hudson is somehow involved in a lawsuit related to the crash at 7th & State that took place nearly one year ago.  Why would a criminal case regarding a vehicle collision drag on for a year or more, particularly one that was never mentioned in the press?  What happened that night and who was involved? To no avail, I repeatedly request that all names and personal information on the report be redacted.  All I want to know is what caused that crash. 

What you start to realize after paying too much attention to our intersections and to traffic safety in Hudson is that no one City Hall really gives a damn.  They simply don't care.  Guess who is the only city official who is authorized to make DPW install painted crosswalks at intersections and change traffic lights to make them readily and easily understood by pedestrians?  That would be the so-called Police Commissioner, a position that has been vacant for the past few months after a Germantown resident resigned that post; a position that was vacant for at least two years while Ed Moore was our Police Chief (and no one noticed or cared); and a position that may be deleted altogether once Joe Ferris takes over the Mayor's Office next month!

The city can't accomplish something as simple as installing crosswalks at busy intersections where "accidents" regularly occur or making traffic lights easily understood by pedestrians because either no one knows who is supposed to get it done or the person who is authorized to get it done isn't present, doesn't exist, or simply doesn't give a damn about Hudson or its pedestrians, including residents walking around town trying to enjoy a respectable and walkable city that may never arrive.