One stroll around campus would lead a student to at least one of the many crosswalks designed to protect pedestrians crossing the road from drivers. It does not take a keen observer to quickly notice the crosswalks are now painted a vivid shade of cherry red. The school deserves credit for making these crosswalks more visible to both walkers and drivers, but the responsibility is now on the drivers to stop at each and every one.

The college acted with great optimism in their summer project to re-paint the crosswalks. It was an obvious attempt to make the campus safer and incentivize walking; always a noble cause. Unfortunately, their effort may have been in vain. To see a car come to a complete stop allowing a walker to pass at their own pace is a rare sight. Instead, cars will often cruise right over the crosswalks at a brisk 20 mph without a single care for the pedestrian’s right of way.

If someone is going to drive on campus the least they could do is stop for the students who prefer the environmentally friendly option of walking.

Moreover, the dangers of failing to yield for walkers are exacerbated by distractions. Students walking with headphones in their ears midway through a daydream are likely to assume, correctly, they can glide across those new red crosswalks without any fear of being turned into roadkill by a mid-sized sedan. A distracted driver could quickly put a halt to that student’s pleasant walk.

Any number of things could distract an on-campus driver from the radio, to a spilled cup of coffee or rowdy passengers. That is no excuse for failure to yield. Cars have horns. Were a student to walk outside a designated crosswalk the driver would be justified in using it.

The campus is now even more walker friendly, as it should be, especially with the newly painted pavement. The responsibility now lies with those students who choose driving as their method of transportation, to stop and wait for pedestrians to cross.

Photo: Taylor Woods | The Oswegonian