This should be fixed!!!

This should be fixed.... Not a safe spot!

This is not a public school so the owners should pay for the light. Next we would have to pay for lights at every daycare and there is no money for that.

So many schools are on major roads. This is a nursery school not a public school in the school district.The school should make a horseshoe type drop off for their kids and staff member could escort them in while other staff members are waiting in the rooms. That way the cars are facing towards on-coming traffic on Lucas Ave not backing in traffic.

It doesn't have to be a light. Simply place a sign that shows a reduced speed and then have a police officer sit there for a half hour in the morning and a half hour around pick up time. After a while it will get the reputation of being a place where the police sit and people will slow down. If you have ever been there then you know that cars are speeding through that area.

This school participates in the Unniversal Pre-K program through Kingston City schools, comparing it to a private business or daycare center is NOT accurate.

Regardless, this is just recognized as a concern and there are people that do this type of planning for a living...with whatever science or engineering solutions they have..and I think anyone would be up for whatever makes sense to make the road more safe to navigate on and off around the limited sight distance on Lucas Avenue on this spot.

Love the suggestions and comments of people who know the area and the road!

Keep our kids safe!!

I slow down when I drive past this area. It is a blind turn. There is more than a school there. It is dangerous & and something needs to be done!

How about yellow flashing lights..school ahead.

How about yellow flashing lights..school ahead.

I agree! Something needs to be done in that area! Best wishes for success!

Windy strip of road, magnified by a school being located there. Something needs to be done!

Please do whatever you can w signage and or lights or anything of that nature to protect everyone!!

so sorry , for the problems you are having, but hold on to your hats i have asked for specific things to be done some for 9 years and its all over looked and as of late flat out told no, and these are the people that some of us vote in.... get these people out and put some honest, hard working, average people in these positions and hope they dont turn into the ones we already have....

there should be a better way for the cars to exit this area instead of backing onto the street.. I know that the center is there so I watch carefully but many do not do the speed limit and fly down that road doing 55 or more.. I hope now that there was an accident the Little School house will look at there layout and figure out a way for cars to enter/exit there property

Lucas Avenue is the concern not the school itself. The road has many blind turns and the speed limit/signage is not appropriate. A school being there is just the cherry on top. This needs to be address. Lucas Avenue has many dangerous curves/turns.

It doesn't matter how you pull out on to Lucas Avenue in this area...the area has limited sight and sharp turns as many people have said. Something needs to be done.

I have encountered SEVERAL times, parents who back into traffic on Lucas Avenue which is illigal and extremely dangerous!

Clearly the fault is on the school itself. There is ample turn around area for cars. The owners should have a clear and concise policy regarding parking lot rules. As others have stated, backing out into traffic is both dangerous and illegal.
There is no reason for a traffic light in this location. Common sense says that if you are pulling onto a road you look both ways. In this case I would look left, rightand then left again. The visability to the right is well over 75 yards and the road to the left is almost as far. By the way, who would be covering the cost of a traffic light in this location? There can't be more than 25 to 30 cars a day. Perhaps if the school is that concerned they can inveset in one themselves.
I'm not sayingthat this area can not be dangerous, however, with a little prudence, there should be no problem at all.

having a few people comment a number of times will not get anything done. The first issue is the school needs to reconfigure their entrance which will not happen because they will have to spend money. Ulster County is broke. Sorry

Disappointed some folks on here seem to be placing blame on the school. The risk is apparent regardless of parking arrangements. The real issue here is pulling out onto the road. The accident that took place was not someone backing out onto traffic. The issue can not just be ignored or disregarded with some excuses by folks who obviously do not have the facts. The county not having money is also not a good enough excuse to just stop. With 2012 dollars, what priorities lie out there?

Lets keep this conversation about safety.

Receiving promising responses from officials.

How is this status closed? I don't see any School Zone signs or reduced speed limits.

.

Perhaps some one could enlighten me here. Is this a school or is it a daycare center?

What does it matter what type of business it is? It is a matter of public safety. Also, please stop with the "who is going to pay for this" line. Just because it possibly doesn't benefit you does not mean it should not be addressed. The tax payers dollars will pay for it. That is what we pay taxes for. A flashing yellow light is not going to bankrupt the county.

With all that being said, I don't believe that anything will happen. One, because you have too many people that will put up a stink even though it doesn't effect them one bit. These people will complain regardless of what happens. And Two, whatever you do people just simply won't slow down. I have a 3 year old daughter that goes to school there and if anything happens to her and nothing was done in an attempt to prevent it then there will be a real issue!!!

Nick Crantz

Nicely said Nick!
It's a matter of public safety. The root issue is on a public road.
The issue is made even worse by this being a pre-school. The school participates in the Unniversal Pre-K program through Kingston City Schools. My 4 year old son attends.

How can we spend money on parks, recreation,etc...and not on public safety? Especially when it involves children?

.So in order to get more perspective on this, I stopped over at the electricians right next store around 4:00 pm today, just to see for my self. Cars where pulled faced in double deep in some spots. In ten minutes, three cars backed out into Lucas ave. I then parked in the school house parking lot and got a good look at the road. Frankly, there is plenty of time to see cars coming in both directions. I am more concerned with the intersection of Edgewood and Lucas than at the school house. Even more so at the convenient across from the Stewarts. Nick I sympithize with your position. I would never want to see anybody get hurt. To further expand on the understanding of this issue, could someone please enlighten me further on details of the accident?

People seem to still be discussing this issue.

Mr Smith- Enlighten us on your qualifications.

Sure thing Lisa. Thanks for the response. I live three minutes from the little red school house and have driven that portion of Lucas Aver. 5 or six times a week for the past 22 years as I work in Stone Ridge. I usually pass the LRSH twice a day. Usually around 6:45 but sometimes earlier and back around 4:00 but some times later. Other days I take 209.
How about yourself? Do you have a child in the LRSH? ( seems easier to type) Can you fill me in on the accident?

I was hoping you were with the UC Dept of Transportation. My son attends the school. The accident was not caused by a car backing out onto Lucas.

At this point, we should pursue this cause directly with the people that can do something about it. Speculation or blame can be fun for some (especially when anoymous on this website) however, it doesn't prevent accidents and doesn't keep our children safe.

We pay a great deal in taxes to people who are trained in the science of engineering that keeps our roads safe. The purpose of this post was to express how many people are concerned about this, and ask them to evaluate it, and do something to help.

Let's do the right thing for safety. No more speculation, non-productive conversation regarding this manner. Thanks everyone! Appreciate the thought behind everything!

These boards are meant for discussion. I'm sorry if I am distracting you but it really doesn't appear as though anybody from any public agency is reading or commenting. Have you tried contacting someone in the UC department of transportation or the Kingston School board?
Again can anybody explain what caused the accident? That is the root problem. If someone was speeding then speed enforcment is more of a solution. Putting up signs won't slow some people down. Visability really in my opinion doesn't seem to be the issue. Blame is an often misused word the reales to cause. It is the one thing that can point you in the correct direction. With out understanding the cause you can not fix the problem.
As far as in the information that I gathered, it is not speculative and adds to to the knowledge base of this thread.

Mr. Smith.

Visability is an issue. The electrician parking lot is not the same as Little Red. If you sit up at the electricians lot you are at the top of the hill and you can look all the way around the turn. You can see 1/3 of a mile in each direction. Little Red is at a lower elevation. When pulling out you can't see the turn or what is coming up over the little hill. The two spots are totally different. They are two diffferent locations. It may not seem like much but look from the lowest end of Little Red and then from the electrician. I did when I dropped off my daughter and they are not the same. I agree that signs and even a flashing light will not make a difference. People will not slow down. If you read my earlier comments I said put a police officer right there in the am and at pick up times. It will slow people down and they will write plenty of tickets which means some revenue for the county. A win-win for everyone. Or, maybe there really is no solution. Maybe they will need someone standing out by the road and let people know when it is safe to pull out.

Nick C.

Mr Smith- If you read all the comments below, all the answers to your questions exist. At this point, our speculation isn't helping matters. My point with "blame" is that the issue is with the road not, an individual. We are not qualified to fix the problem. If you had charts, visability equations based on the height of the car, etc.....would you feel comfortable building a road design? A couple recommendations have been thrown out there. I am asking for votes to rally together support for this cause to influence people that have the KNOW and the ABILITY to make a change for the better. You say this site is built for discussion..take a look below , this is found on this homepage. This site is to get concerned citizens together, give them a place to combine their efforts and influence those that have the KNOW and the ABILITY. We aren't problem solvers, we are problem reporters.

Again, appreciate the comments and support.
We have contacted:
-Hurley Highway Department. They stated Lucas Avenue is a County Road. But, gave some numbers to call.
-Call out to the UC Traffic Safety Board. They have statistics regarding accidents, etc. These are the people with the measurements, the science, etc...to make a recommendation.
-Various calls out to UC HIghway Department.

From See Click Fix homepage:
Three basic principles
Empowerment. SeeClickFix allows anyone to report and track non-emergency issues anywhere in the world via the internet. This empowers citizens, community groups, media organizations and governments to take care of and improve their neighborhoods.

Efficiency. Two heads are better than one and 300 heads are better than two. In computer terminology, distributed sensing is particularly powerful at recognizing patterns, such as those that gradually take shape on a street. Besides, the government can't be in all places at all times. We make it easy and fun for everyone to see, click and fix.

Engagement. Citizens who take the time to report even minor issues and see them fixed are likely to get more engaged in their local communities. It's called a self-reinforcing loop. This also makes people happy and everyone benefits from that.

I agree. More voting, calling the county.

Less debate on here!

Keep our children safe! Something needs to be done!

I've been away for a lttle while. I agree less dabate your way or get deleted. Drive carefully and please don't pull out in front of me or my wife as we go to and from work.

since when does a school not have flashing lights or a reduced speeding sign.... i hope this area has been fixed.... it was posted 17 days ago and viewed 123 times......

I believe that this is a day care with the name school in it

This was said a number of times in commetns. This is a pre-school so, it does magnify the situation.. But, frankly...who cares what kind of business it is? It's a matter of public safety. The road has a lack of visability.

This needs to be fixed!

all the neigbors and the people that are posting all these complaints that fall on deaf ears , plus all the people that have to use the road to commute to work to pay their tax bills, and all these highway and town hall supers their salaries should start to pickit.... on the road there, the town hall, get a petition not that any of that would help seems like this clix - fix and elected officials do not do anything to help the people that voted them in..... one child or one car of people would be too much to happen if someone was hurt or died ..it seems like only people that write on clix-fix seem to car about it.... what to do write to washington d.c. that would be a joke too.. good luck , be safe

I just got on here and have read all the comments. I live on Lucas Avenue in the city, and it's amazing the number of inconsiderate drivers who are always in a hurry and don't respect the speed limit. The average speed on Lucas Avenue is 38 mph - in a 30 mph zone. That means for every law-abiding citizen who's doing 30, there's an idiot driving 46 mph! It's no different by the LRSH. What about re-configuring the parking lot so that you have to drive up to the electrician's lot to exit? If the visibility is better there, then don't allow an exit by the school. The entrance can be down there, but if the entire parking lot was basically a horseshoe, that might help.

The owners could file for a permit and install the lights. The government SHOULD NOT pay for them as the school is for profit. Lights would be going up everywhere if this is allowed.

went by the other day and the parking lot was a free for all. The Uhls need to spend a few bucks to put curbs and upgrade their parking lot. They have it. This will channelize the traffic flow.Those upgrades are NOT the resposibility of the county.