The near-death of Allison Pool on Campus Court last week raises a question that desperately needs answers: How can the university make adjacent streets safer for its students?
Campus Court and East North 16th Street have long proved a dangerous place for both pedestrians and drivers-the Abilene Police Department has recorded eight accidents in two years on Campus Court alone.
Sadly, a student nearly died to capture the campus’ attention to the dangers of driving like a 21st century motorist on roads built for 1930s traffic.
But speeding is only part of the problem with the campus’ southwest corner. The Optimist suggests the following changes to improve traffic safety on Campus Court and East North 16th Street:
* Slant parking regulations. The slanted spaces were not built for, yet are used mostly by, pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles, which cannot fit in the short, narrow spaces. These vehicles should be prohibited from parking there.
Motorists must avoid hitting the back ends of these vehicles, while cars pulling out from nearby lots must pull out dangerously far into the road to see. Smaller cars backing out of the spaces must adopt a “step-on- the-gas-and-pray” attitude.
Pedestrians also are at risk when they cross from these areas, invisible to drivers until it is too late.
* A sixth crosswalk. Both streets have two crosswalks, and a third is being planned for 16th, thanks in large part to the Students’ Association. Campus Court also needs a third crosswalk stretching from the student lots to the Brown Library parking lot. Hundreds of students cross the street to get to Mabee Hall, the library and the Don H. Morris Center but have no crosswalk to protect them.
* Stop signs at Washington Boulevard. Students have complained for years that cars travel too fast on East North 16th Street. A stop sign at Washington would provide the break that the stop signs at Campus Court and East North 18th Street provide.
* Education. Basic rules need to be hammered home. Drivers must stop at a crosswalk if pedestrians are waiting to cross, and they must stop if pedestrians are already crossing the street outside of a crosswalk.
Likewise, pedestrians are jaywalking and are subject to fines for crossing outside of crosswalks.
Rolling stops at stop signs and failure to use turn signals also cause accidents. Passing in Campus Court’s turning lane was an obviously illegal action that caused the Nov. 10 accident.
Bodies should not litter the campus’ roads before the student body decides to drive and walk safely. Simple changes now could save students’ lives for decades.
