Dummy lights are an anomaly in traffic control. By modern standards, they are relatively unsafe. They usually interfere with traffic flow, often being the indirect cause of many accidents. Yet, three of these lights survive in New York State. This is my tale of the three lights.
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(Dummy light in Croton, NY)
The Croton dummy light is very familiar to me, as I live in this town. Unlike most dummy lights, it is not in the middle of the intersection. Instead, it's off to the side, and tends NOT to interfere with traffic flow.
I find it amazing that this light has survived so long. Yet, keeping this light makes more sense than replacing it. Installing a newer style of traffic control would ruin the character of the village, as the dummy light would need to be replaced by one (or more) hanging street light(s) whose supports would ruin the appearance of the intersection AND might make it even more dangerous.
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(Dummy light in Beacon, NY)
Like Croton's dummy light, Beacon's light also is an anomaly. It does not interfere with traffic flow. And, like Croton's light, adds to the character of the part of town in which it resides. I've eaten at several restaurants in walking distance of this light, and consider it something that the town should preserve at all costs.
When I first came to the Hudson Valley, Beacon was a dump. Thirty years later, it is one of those places that New York City residents have fallen in love with and have planted the seeds for its gentrification. Of course, gentrification has resulted in problems for many long time residents of the valley - they can no longer afford to live here.
I first started visiting Beacon on a regular basis when I first started going out as Marian. First, I went to a game night meetup being held by a woman trying to draw new business to her restaurant. (This meetup has since been disbanded, but that's another tale covered in my previous blog.) Then, I attended a woman's meetup group for a while. This gave me needed practice going out as Marian, and gave me the confidence that I could live in the outside world as my authentic self. (It's hard to believe that my ex girlfriend once attended this group, as she needed a ride from me to get back to her car being repaired the next day.) Eventually, this group died when the owner of the restaurant where we usually met decided to shut down the restaurant and to eventually move out of the region.
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(Dummy light in Canajoharie, NY)
On Mother's day, I decided to take a drive up to Cooperstown, NY to visit the Baseball Hall of Fame. It was more of an excuse to get out of the house and distract myself from the boredom that has permeated my life for the past 18 months or so. While on my trip (as Mario), I ended up seeing the one remaining dummy light in Canajoharie, NY on my way home from the HOF.
There was no reason for me to be in Canajoharie this day. If I had a better internal road map of the area, I would not have even bothered being near this place. But I saw a sign telling me that I could reach Route I-90 (New York Thruway) from a given road, and I made the mistake of taking that road as the rain was starting to pour.
Canajoharie is a town that time left behind. The most notable part of the town is a large factory that shut down years ago, leaving the town with no reason for being. And when I drove through the town, I became glad that I live in the Hudson Valley, a region which is undergoing a rebirth.
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Dummy lights are anomalies - just like me. I'm glad that I've seen all three of these curiosities, as I expect that some law enacted in the future will cause them to be removed. We will be losing something important when that this eventually happens.
