Working the hours that I do, I am in rush hour traffic most of my life. I can, at this point typically tell if it is just the normal congestion, if someone is pulled over up ahead; or maybe there is a fender bender holding things up. The merging traffic by Wolf Road is alwaysinteresting to come by. But last night, after I had a softball game I knew something else was going on.

I live in Waterford so I was heading home from the Colonie area via 787 which takes me through Cohoes. It was the normal drive up until it got closer to home and it seemed weird how traffic all of a sudden came to a stand still. It was even more out of character given the hour of the day, which was around 8pm.

My first thoughts were, "please don't let this be another motorcycle accident" because there has been plenty of those over the last couple of weeks which hits close to home for me. I finally made it to a point where I could take a left and cut through the back streets of Cohoes. As I did that, I saw that the rest of 787 was blocked off by construction signs saying "Road Closed." I had that moment of relief (and slight annoyance) thinking it was just some road work and nothing more. That's when I received a text telling me otherwise.

A 16 year old girl, Brittany Knight of Cohoes High School  who was just a sophomore getting ready for her summer break was struck and killed by a car at the intersection of Bridge Street.There is currently an investigation going on as to what happened exactly that caused this tragedy with the local police department. To top it off the Mayor of Cohoes, Shawn Morse believes there is a problem with 787 as a major highway cutting through his city and causing not just this death but multiple others in the recent years.

"787 is a problem and it's got to be addressed. We're not going to take anymore excuses" he told the Times Union.

I agree, something needs to be done. More safety precautions need to be taken all around. It's a road I travel literally every single day and as the commuter, it is a weird stretch to drive. The speed limit slows, but the drivers typically don't. The pedestrians have a walk sign, but aren't always paying attention to it and treating it as if it's just any other Cohoes city street - which it is absolutely not. Looking both ways isn't enough. The question is how do you fix the problems that are obviously there? And at the end of the day, it doesn't bring back Brittany. What does her family do for their child that was taken too soon?

 

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