Letters & Opinion
Letter to the Editor - Don’t pedestrians have the right of way?
Typically, pedestrians enjoy a “right of way” when it comes to crossing the street in front of cars. It’s the law, and that’s the way it should be; it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that a car can easily hurt a person. That’s why I am simply appalled by drivers’ behavior at the corner of Fourth Avenue and Reserve Street on campus. I cannot count the number of times I’ve been honked at, or worse, almost hit by a car while crossing this intersection.
For those not familiar with this busy intersection, it’s located by the Newman Center and the east end of the Science Building; students living close to Schmeeckle, in the eastern residence halls like Pray-Sims and May Roach, and those going to their cars in Lot Q can’t avoid this intersection. However, drivers feel the need to speed through the intersection before a group of students enters the white-lined crosswalks, or worse yet, proceed through the intersection before students have cleared the way. It is not uncommon to see a car one or two feet in front of a student in the crosswalk, impatiently waiting for clearance to proceed.
This not only scares me as a student who walks to campus one or two times a day, but angers me since one privilege of having a driver’s license is knowing the difference between right and wrong and maintaining safe driving practices.
On Tuesday, Nov. 11, as I entered the crosswalk, a small white car zoomed through the stop sign, slammed on the brakes while I crossed the street, and then sped past me as soon as I was out of his lane; he swerved around me and missed me by about three or four feet.
I understand that everyone is in a hurry, especially while en route to class or getting home from a long day on campus, but a driver’s initial obligation is to give the right of way to cyclists and pedestrians, no matter what the circumstances may be. After all, it’s not that hard to find an alternate route that DOESN’T GO DIRECTLY THROUGH THE MIDDLE OF A BUSY CAMPUS. It’s every driver’s responsibility to be safe, especially when driving around people, so please obey the laws before “The Pointer” has to run a front page story about a student getting killed by an impatient motorist who was just too busy to wait for that person to cross the street. At this rate, I wouldn’t be surprised to see it happen before the end of the semester.
Steve Seamandel
UW-SP student and pedestrian
