Some people want to blame the buses
Others want to blame the pedestrians.
Still others say speed is to blame.
And finally, some say too many turns are the problem.
They're all right. And they're all wrong.
The fact is, in an area like the UI campus and Campustown, with 40,000 students and another 10,000 to 15,000 support-type folks (not to mention merchants and assorted employees, along with a few of us brave townies) in a very confined and compact area, there is going to be pedestrian-vehicle interaction. These interactions occasionally will result in death. Sorry, it's a fact.
We can legislate and tinker endlessly; we can wring our hands, seek innovative solutions, try new tactics, try OLD tactics, try anything, and we still will have pedestrian-vehicle interactions.
It's been going on since there were students and vehicles. I daresay more than one student was trampled by a horse and buggy a century ago.
Which is why after a day of contemplation and pondering, I came to the conclusion that the Champaign City Council did something right. Feel free to read that sentence again, if you don't believe it's in this blog.
The council did not give in to quick fix solutions and lower the speed limit from 25 to 20 in Campustown. Instead, the council voted 9-0 (9-0!) against such a move. They saw what every rational person already knew. A pedestrian hit by a bus going 20 mps will be just as dead as one hit at 25 mph.
The only thing the cut in speed limit will do is increase the number of un-ticked traffic lawbreakers. Almost no one's gonna really cut their speed 5 mph in Campustown. Would you? Get real. And for the few who do ... they're gonna be paying more attention to the angry drivers behind them standing on their horns than to the pedestrians.
The second part of the equation is that the speed limit in Campustown and throughout C-U is largely unenforced as it is. Is it logical to think that the same police who ignore most traffic offenses are suddenly gonna become ultra vigilant in Campustown? Even if they do, catching one in 20 or one in 40 means 19 or 39 drivers are still speeding.
Won't happen.
So, what's the solution?
Answer: There is none.
You put that many pedestrians and vehicles in that confined a space and accidents will occur. Simple. If you reduce the number of buses, you increase the number of cars tenfold or twentyfold. If you reduce the number of cars, you increase the number of hard-to-maneuver slow-to-stop buses getting students and others from place to place quickly.
The only real 'solution' would be to ban vehicles from campus and Campustown. Won't work. Businesses will close, students will have no way to get from one end of campus to another in a timely fashion and the university will be irreparably damaged.
The only thing anyone can do is education: convince pedestrians that they might stay alive longer if they follow the laws. Convince drivers that pedestrians make lousy hood ornaments and are largely oblivious, inattentive and must be looked out for constantly. You know, like small children.
And then: Pray.
And so it goes.
5 comments:
as a U of I alumnus, perhaps it's time for the Champaign P.D. to enforce jaywalking violations in Campustown? and speeding violations?
Good post! I agree with you - and you said it better than I
I guess there's no way to enforce the law that people -- drivers or pedestrians -- should actually pay attention.
Yeah, I'd love to have jaywalking laws and speeding laws strictly enforced in Campustown.That would go a long way toward solving some, although not all, of the problems. Experience in C-U over the past couple of decades indicates that's not gonna happen.
Likewise, there's no way to enforce that the best and the brightest among use use enough of that intelligence to actually pay attention around traffic. Students are, after all, bulletproof.
Excellent post, Ol' Guy.
I don't want to come down on just one side in this, but one of the things I will say is that, as campus foot traffic is predominantly made-up of UIUC students, I've been amazed at the lengths people are proposing we go to in order to keep them safe from cars, trucks and buses.
I mean, 20 mph? These are adults for goodness sake! We reserve for 20 mph zones for grade school kids. Are there any such school zone speed restrictions around middle or high schools? I don't remember any, but then again I could be wrong.
Still, when people are proposing enacting measures that we have to use in order to keep grade-schoolers, I kinda' have to wonder.
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