Is crossing 12th Street to get to campus safe? The short answer is yes, but I’m sure many students disagree with that answer. Several incidents have occurred over the last couple of years where students or other pedestrians have been hit by cars. Crossing 12th can often be as risky as dodging bikers and skateboarders while walking to class on campus. Equally dangerous is crossing Orchard Avenue in front of Orchard Apartments.
Orchard Avenue does not have a flashing crosswalk light as the multiple crosses on 12th do. The resident council for Orchard Apartments has appealed multiple times to have a light put in at the crossing, but each time they have been given the same answer: there “isn’t enough” student traffic on that crosswalk.
Anyone who drives through that crosswalk on Orchard knows that seven times out of ten, you’re going to stop for a pedestrian, so it is puzzling to hear that there is not enough traffic. You would think that with students coming and going from the residence hall, the nursing building, the health center, and coming back the other way, that there would be enough traffic. Even some students use the crosswalk in order to get to and from their off-campus housing.
Furthermore, if you’re driving on Orchard Ave, seven times out of ten you’ll encounter students who refuse to walk the extra 20 feet in order to use the crosswalk. They choose to wait on the sidewalk until there is no traffic coming in both directions, or often, in one direction and expect the other direction to stop.
Wouldn’t it be quicker just to get to the crosswalk and not wait? If I’m driving and you’re not using the crosswalk, I’m not stopping, and neither are many of the older populace of Grand Junction.
The real question, however, is not whether or not the crossings have lights, or how we could enforce using the crosswalks. The real question is: with or without the pedestrian light, are these crossings safe? My answer would be, both irresponsible drivers and irresponsible pedestrians who are to blame for any risk involved with using these crosswalks.
In the age of distracted drivers, even using the crossing light can be risky because of the people who are not paying attention and do not stop, the people who can’t stop soon enough, and the people who flat out don’t stop.
On the Orchard Ave crossing, a similar problem can be encountered. The difference is that there is no light and often times it is difficult for a driver to notice or see the pedestrians that are trying to cross.
How can we make these crosswalks safer? The short answer here is: we can’t. Sure, the school could invest thousands of more dollars to build pedestrian overpasses in a town that doesn’t even have its own freeway, or the school could install actual stoplights similar to the one that exists on Orchard Ave east of 12th for the students and parents of Orchard Elementary.
However, does the school have the money to implement such structures? If the school does have the money, is that something that the majority of the student body wants such money being invested in. Certainly, there are more important things that the money could be spent on.
What else can be done to ensure students’ safety? First of all, students need to take on the responsibility of being a pedestrian, and not push the button, walk, and look at their phone. We live in the age of rushed and distracted drivers, as I said earlier; so as a pedestrian, students need to check to make sure approaching drivers notice that there is a pedestrian waiting to cross and are slowing down to stop to allow them to cross.
Second of all, as you continue to cross the street, be aware of more oncoming cars. If there are no cars in all four lanes initially, this means other drivers will be approaching, and drivers behind them cannot be paying attention and rear-end the stopped cars pushing them over you.
The fact of the matter is, even though cars are supposed to stop for pedestrians, many may not notice you or just choose not to stop like the dangerous drivers they are. Also, as pedestrians, we have responsibilities to traffic as well.
All incidents cannot be avoided at every crosswalk on campus, so it is possible that, with an increase of accidents, the school will be forced to implement the afore-mentioned overpasses or new lights. However, for now, the best students can do is take our noses out of our phone screens and use the crosswalks responsibly.
