The importance of correctly using the crosswalks on and around campus is more imperative than ever before. As the university enrollment grows every semester, more and more students are crossing the streets from all angles, causing chaos and stress for drivers. I can’t speak for everyone, but I know that almost hitting several students last week who were too busy texting to look at where they were going didn’t really top off my day.
First of all, it should be noted that stop signs and crosswalks are put in designated spots for a reason. If you are so lazy that you cannot walk 20 feet to the crosswalk before jumping out into the road then maybe you should just stay home and be less of a hazard.
I am not going to pretend like I always use the crosswalks when walking around campus because there are some spots where crosswalks don’t exist; however, when crossing a random part of the street, it takes a short five seconds to look left then right then left again and go. The tiny amount of time you take to look before crossing the road could be life changing.
I know my last statement seems a bit dramatic. You could never be hit by a car, right? That only happens to other people who carelessly walk out in front of moving vehicles. Well, at least two times last week I had to slam on my brakes in order to not slam into people who were texting and stepped right out in front of my car. And, of course, they were not in a crosswalk zone.
I am an alert driver and was paying attention to what was going on around me and was, therefore, able to prevent a couple of terrible accidents from occurring. But, only a few days later I was driving down the treacherous Prairie Crossing parking garage when another car came around the corner. We were headed straight at each other, so I slammed on my brakes to avoid hitting the car just as I did with the pedestrians.
Unfortunately, this incident was different because when I pressed my brakes, nothing happened. I heard a terrible grinding noise and continued to move forward, not stopping at all. My brakes did not work whatsoever. It was a scary event that could have been much worse had I not navigated my way out of it. If there were people in the way instead of a car, who knows what could have happened.
You never know when mechanics will fail and the unexpected will occur. Take the time to stop texting and look both ways before you leap into oncoming traffic, then start your message back up when you get over to the sidewalk. I don’t want you to be a fatality of walking into a moving car. It just isn’t worth it.