Fix Hurst Road to stop the carnage

To the Editor:

This week we saw another young person lose her life on Hurst Road. I am baffled as to why the town has not taken action long ago to put an end to the risk that is Hurst Road.

If you don’t know what I’m talking about, I’m talking about the Hurst Road Jump, as they called it when I was a kid. I am 65 now. Yet when I was in my teens, everyone knew about the Hurst Road Jump and many tried to get all their wheels off the ground on that jump.

Has nobody wondered why two serious single-car accidents resulting in death have occurred within a very short period and happened within feet of each other?

What is the Hurst Road Jump? It is a whoop-de-doo on Hurst Road just before you get to the trees where the kids died. The idea is to get your car up to 100 miles per hour or so, headed towards Route 146, hit the jump, and get air under your wheels. It is not unlike the stunts you see in the movies. And the car will get air. I know because when I was a kid, I went over it twice as a passenger.

I assumed after the last fatal crash, the town would have been down there with a bulldozer taking that hump out of the road and putting an end to the carnage. But it appears that is not the case. They can try to plead ignorance, but I’m sure that the local police, as well as many residents, are well aware of that spot and its notoriety.

Why nobody died when I was young is a bit of a mystery. Perhaps the longer wheelbase cars of the day were heavier and did not fly quite as well off the jump and kept going straight when they landed. The small, short wheelbase cars that kids are driving are lighter, faster, and also much more sensitive to steering input.

If they don’t do something about that hump in the road, I hate to say this, but more will be hurt or killed. We all know kids. Getting air off the Hurst Road Jump will be a badge of honor.

Rob Sigond

Voorheesville

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