A couple of weeks ago, an associateand I took a trip to Crossgates. We thought it might be fun to go see a movie. Ironically enough, we saw Changing Lanes.
On the way to the mall it was lightly raining. I found it to be slightly annoying. When I left the theater, I walked into a downpour. The rain might not have been torrential, but it was certainly coming down hard and the sky was dark.
So my friend and I set off on our journey to campus … a journey far more treacherous then I ever imagined. For the most part, the dotted white lines on the road were nearly invisible due to the fact that the roads were quite slick from the rain. Driving slowly I eventually made it back home safely after a long and trying trip.
A week later I took a trip down to New Jersey to visit my family. The first thing that I noticed as I crossed the border was how well lit the highway was, particularly in the areas near exits. The second thing was that there were reflectors on the roads along with the dotted lines, which greatly improve visibility. Both of these are features that are lacking on New York’s highways.
As I drove though New Jersey that weekend, I continued to look at the highways. I continued to see reflectors in the roads, and all of the highways were well lit.
I’ve been told that there are a few reflectors now starting to show up on some of the roads in Latham. This is good, but it’s not enough. Every major highway should have reflectors on the road. I’m not a civil engineer, but it seems likely that it would decrease the number of accidents on our highways at night, as it would improve visibility when the roads are both wet and dry.
