- 1/14/16 – Colleen A. Burke, 69, of Saratoga Springs used her Mini Cooper to strike Damon E. Hinchcliff, 40 of Clifton Park who was crossing Rt. 9 near the Saratoga Springs city line at 8:41 pm.
- 1/8/16 – Motor vehicle hit and killed a 79-year-old man who was crossing State St. and Veeder Ave., Schenectady.
- 1/4/16 – Car traveling west on Columbia Tpk. left the roadway, ran over road signs, and killed Paul Greene, 50, of Rensselaer who was standing on the shoulder.
- 12/14/15 – Van hit and caused fatal injuries to Paul Williman, 75, of Troy, who was crossing Hoosick St., Troy.
May the Force Be With You
- 12/9/15 – Motor vehicle struck and killed Jodey Farrell, 81, as she made her way to a bus stop on Van Rensselaer Blvd., Menands.
- 12/6/15 – Motor vehicle fatally hit Marine Corps veteran Zachary Unser, 2009 graduate of Colonie Central High, who was walking across Central Ave., Colonie at Osborne Rd.
- 12/6/15 – Maria Lentini of Saratoga Springs struck and killed Patrick Duff with her SUV. Duff, 30, of Clifton Park, died on Rt. 9, Halfmoon. Lentini, 30, was charged with leaving the scene of the accident and first-degree reckless endangerment, both felonies.
SOURCES: Albany Times Union with special thanks to columnist Chris Churchill who seems to be the singular voice supporting roadway sanity.
Ed Note – Of the three “Es” of traffic safety – Engineering, Education, and Enforcement – only the first is of real consequence. The roads and streets we have where people get run down and killed or injured did not land here from Mars – they were proposed, approved, designed, and built by the New York State Department of Transportation and by county and city highway departments. The excessive lane widths, absence of pedestrian “bump outs” and refuges, poor signalization, and obliterated markings are all planned conscious acts and decisions. You can “educate” and “enforce” all day long but if the streets are planned to encourage speeding, lane changing, right (and even left and straight) after pause, and so on, these efforts will be of momentary effect. Passing out flyers and posting signs or telling pedestrians to wear reflective clothing are all nice but not a solution.
If you are content with this, just change the channel.
Albany Bicycle Coalition 