Line of Sight

This little photo essay is to illustrate what I perceive to be one of the problems with the intersection of Rte 66 and 295, from a traffic standpoint. (If at any time you want more detail, click on the photo itself, and it will enlarge.)

I’m driving down Railroad Avenue(Rte 295) toward the intersection of Hudson Ave(Rte 66). I note the ‘stop ahead’ sign. The reason behind making the stop sign more noticeable is that many drivers roll right past the stop bar; some drivers don’t even see the stop sign at all.

Here we are, a little closer to the stop line, which is just ahead. My car is already past the crosswalk. At this point, I don’t have a clear view of oncoming Hudson Ave traffic. Also note the fenced off turn in, something we’d like to have cleaned up, make the Village look nicer. All those wickets add a lot of visual noise, making line of sight a little more difficult.

Here I am at the stop line, looking ahead, down Hudson Ave. Looks pretty clear, from what I can see.

Whoa! Where did that white car come from? If you look at the photo above, you can barely see it behind the other cars. This is how it is, cars just appear out of nowhere, going 30 MPH, often faster.

So, I won’t just pull out into traffic, I’ll creep slowly forward to look down Hudson Ave. Ah! Now it’s clear! After I look up Main St., I’ll be able to pull out into traffic.

So I turn my head around 180 degrees, shift in my seat to get a better look, and……the  darn Railroad arm is in the way. I will have to pull even farther out into the intersection so I can look both ways.

By the time I’ve pulled out far enough into the intersection to get a good view, my car is blocking the oncoming traffic, sometimes causing Main St. traffic to stop on the tracks until I can get out of the way.

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