The City of Beacon Administrator Chris White reacted swiftly to the latest crash into the Dummy Light on Thanksgiving 2023. Several business owners chimed in on A Little Beacon Blog’s article announcing the recent crunch of the new white truck with out-of-state plates that crashed into the stationery Dummy Light. Witnesses who included business owners said that this left-turning crash was not isolated. In ALBB’s breaking story about the Thanksgiving Dummy Light hit, ALBB posed the question if it should be painted yellow. Answers were majority “Yes” with one “Paint it pink” and a few “Why do we have a Dummy Light?”

Realtor Charlotte Guernsey told A Little Beacon Blog, who has her office on one side of the street, plus her bridal boutique at 1 East Main on the other side of the street: “I saw 2 [crashes] in a row the other week, all 3 of these going the same direction. Must be something about the glare, also they were same time of day.” The famed photographer for magazine food photography, Meghan Spiro, consistently told ALBB and others in social media comments that sun glare may have been a factor: “I saw this one today outside my window. Either it was the glare from the sun or they just didn’t see it.”

An ALBB reader, Stephen Burns, did a Google search for the Dummy Light, and found this photo from the 1990s.

In some olden days of Beacon, the olden days of the 1990s, the Dummy Light did have a yellow base with KEEP RIGHT painted in black. Many people in ALBB’s social media, including the former Mayor of Beacon, Randy Casale, expressed their desire to have the base of the Dummy Light painted yellow again, with the words KEEP RIGHT resurrected on the base. Randy said: “Yes! With big black lettering saying KEEP RIGHT side coming from Verplanck Ave and On East Main side.” Most Beaconites are fans of the Dummy Light, and have created much comedy and product around the Dummy Light.

Can you see the Dummy LIght? It’s in the shadow of the 1 East Main building. In the winter morning of the end of November at 10:30am, the Dummy Light is in the shadows. It was painted a very dark green. So blends into the shadow. This has been the time of day when cars crash into it, according to local business owners who witness the crashes. Cars also hit it at night. Several locals have wondered about the glare, if that makes it hard to see.

To check on the glare, ALBB took this photo at 10:30am in November. Indeed, there was a glare. Which is possibly made worse by the newly paved Main Street. While beautiful, is newly black pavement reflects the sun glare up, while the sun is beating down. Additionally, at that hour, the Dummy Light is in the shadow of the building 1 East Main Street. It is painted a very dark green, so is nearly impossible to see. The Dummy Light in the shadow picture is pictured right. Can you see it?

Local readers on ALBB’s socials blamed the new tourists for not being aware of the Dummy Light. Saying that this never happened when they were growing up. If they were growing up during the 1990s, when the base was painted yellow, this may not have been an issue. Because people could see the Dummy Light when dressed in yellow.

ALBB only knew about this crash because the Dutchess County Scanner Feed reported on it, and a reader tipped us off to their update. Which begs the question: how many crashes into the Dummy Light don’t we know about because we aren’t FOILing for “Dummy Light Crashes” every single day?

City Of Beacon’s Proposed Changes To The Dummy Light

Traffic changes to Beacon City streets are not swift. Usually, there are committee meetings about them, where the Traffic Safety Committee, composed of at least one City of Beacon Police Officer, maybe 2 citizens, and the City’s Assistant at Large, meet once a month to discuss traffic problems, and then maybe present some of those findings them to City Council.

After that, if a recommendation makes it to City Council, which could be months or a year after their initial meeting, the City Council discusses the traffic safety issue, and debates if they should accept the Traffic Committee’s recommendation. Like if they recommend installing a Stop sign somewhere. A legal Resolution is needed for the Stop sign to get cemented into the ground. This leads to an official “Public Comment” session about the traffic safety recommendation.

Sometimes that night, after the “Public Comment” closes, the City Council votes on if the stop sign should get installed. After that, if it is voted in, the safety recommendation needs to be implemented. But, the Stop signs that have been voted in have sometimes taken years to get actually cemented into the ground. Like on Church Street. Maybe 2 years ago those Stop signs were voted in, and they never appeared.

Regarding the Dummy Light, the City Administrator Chris presented what he was going to do to the street one week after ALBB’s article and crash into the light. He did this during the scheduled “Report” section of the City Council Meeting, where Citycouncil Members around the table can contribute whatever they like. He said:

“[Regarding] pavement striping around the Dummy Light this week. We are not taking the Dummy Light down. We are going to better delineate lanes, so that people who have trouble staying in their lane, don't run into the Dummy Light.”

Councilmember Dan Aymar-Blair then asked if there had been proposed painting of the street around the Dummy Light in the in the Main Street Accesses Committee recommendations? Which were presented to the City Council and this City Administrator 2 years ago. City Administrator Chris answered yes.

Previously, One of the Main Street Access Committee Members, Stowe Boyd, linked to the coverage on his website Beacon Streets, where it was pointed out that “Three-way Stop signs should be installed near the Dummy Light, where Main Street is excessively wide and drivers often get confused. Trees should be added.” This was 2 years ago.

In answer to Councilmember Dan’s question, City Administrator Chris said: “We took the general principle of that, of narrowing the lanes on both sides, and having somewhat of an island in the middle, so people don't try to cut off left in front of the Dummy Light. [We] had a traffic engineer from Lance and Tully [draw it] to MUTCD standards. I don't even know that acronym is, but we're doing it correctly. If that doesn't work, I'm going to paint the thing bright neon green."

No imagery was presented to the City Council on what this plan would look like that Lance and Tully allegedly drafted. MUTCD stands for Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices for streets and highways.

Before any work was completed, Beacon’s Mayor Lee Kyriacou stated during the meeting: "If we're going to take odds, I'm going to bet against the Dummy Light."

Safety Paint Updates To The Dummy Light

Crews put out green cones during yellow street painting work around the Dummy LIght.

Beacon’s Highway Department was out early in the morning of Thursday, November 30th, 2023 to paint something having to do with the Dummy Light. ALBB approached the crew to learn about the plan.

“First,” said one crew member, “we sprayed Dummy Repellent on it.”

“Next, we are going to paint the base.”

What color? ALBB was dying to know.

“Pink.” was the first answer. But a second Highway Department crew member answered with authority: “Yellow. The same yellow as the street paint. With signs that say “KEEP RIGHT.”

They would drill “KEEP RIGHT” signs into the base. None of these plans were mentioned by the City Administrator Chris earlier during Monday’s City Council Meeting. Maybe they were in the draft that Lance and Tully did that was never presented to the City Council. Or maybe the Highway Department went rogue to protect the Dummy Light.

At night, with the yellow base, the Dummy Light seems to be more noticeable, even in the rain.

If you hear reports of the Dummy Light being hit in its yellow version, please let ALBB know. Anonymous tips are welcome. We would get too addicted to the Police scanner, so can’t listen to it each day.