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TechnographPedestrian safety meeting a must-see
By The Daily Illini Editorial Board
Posted: 11/1/06 Section: Opinions
Of all the mass mailings you received in October, whether from the University, Facebook or that RSO you signed up for on a whim on Quad Day three years ago, last week's e-mail from Chancellor Richard Herman inviting the student body to a drop-in session on campus safety today may be the most important.
The University's Multi-Modal Transportation Study (MTS) is hosting an "open house input session" this afternoon at the Pine Lounge of the Illini Union building from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. It is an opportunity for students to share their concerns on pedestrian and bicycle safety, the MTD and even campus parking.
Every student sees something wrong with campus safety. And if you do not, you are not looking hard enough. Each day, countless near-hits between buses and pedestrians, cars and bikes, bikes and pedestrians, pedestrians and skateboarders and every other imaginable combination happen. Some of those who escape unscathed come within inches of losing their limbs or lives.
Whether it's a gravelly bike path that needs resurfacing or a particularly congested thoroughfare, students and other members of the campus community notice things that they would like to see fixed every day. They include problems from traffic flow to crosswalk issues to bus stop placements. At intersections like the one at Wright and Green streets, students can even be ticketed for diagonally crossing with the walk light because 18 seconds is simply not enough time to get across to the other side.
But the truth of the matter is that just seeing the problems is not a solution to making travelling on campus safer. The campus community has to report problems and offer suggestions. And we are happy to see that the University recognizes the value of opinions of students, faculty and staff and is giving us all a chance to speak.
A year after the death of freshman Sarah Channick and two years after graduate student Carolyn Jeffers' fatal accident, the campus community must not take for granted the mundane actions of everyday travel. But these tragic deaths also taught us that even when students are overwhelmingly the victims of accidents, they are also assigned the blame for being distracted pedestrians prone to absent-minded treks to and from class. Today's input session offers students the chance to challenge this conception, to offer real solutions and to prove that we have been paying attention to the world around us.
But more than anything else, you should drop in on the transportation open house because you should be at least as concerned about your safety as your University is. After all, when you step off the curb, it is your life at stake.
The University's Multi-Modal Transportation Study (MTS) is hosting an "open house input session" this afternoon at the Pine Lounge of the Illini Union building from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. It is an opportunity for students to share their concerns on pedestrian and bicycle safety, the MTD and even campus parking.
Every student sees something wrong with campus safety. And if you do not, you are not looking hard enough. Each day, countless near-hits between buses and pedestrians, cars and bikes, bikes and pedestrians, pedestrians and skateboarders and every other imaginable combination happen. Some of those who escape unscathed come within inches of losing their limbs or lives.
Whether it's a gravelly bike path that needs resurfacing or a particularly congested thoroughfare, students and other members of the campus community notice things that they would like to see fixed every day. They include problems from traffic flow to crosswalk issues to bus stop placements. At intersections like the one at Wright and Green streets, students can even be ticketed for diagonally crossing with the walk light because 18 seconds is simply not enough time to get across to the other side.
But the truth of the matter is that just seeing the problems is not a solution to making travelling on campus safer. The campus community has to report problems and offer suggestions. And we are happy to see that the University recognizes the value of opinions of students, faculty and staff and is giving us all a chance to speak.
A year after the death of freshman Sarah Channick and two years after graduate student Carolyn Jeffers' fatal accident, the campus community must not take for granted the mundane actions of everyday travel. But these tragic deaths also taught us that even when students are overwhelmingly the victims of accidents, they are also assigned the blame for being distracted pedestrians prone to absent-minded treks to and from class. Today's input session offers students the chance to challenge this conception, to offer real solutions and to prove that we have been paying attention to the world around us.
But more than anything else, you should drop in on the transportation open house because you should be at least as concerned about your safety as your University is. After all, when you step off the curb, it is your life at stake.
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