The Daily Campus

Issue date: 2/17/09 Section: Commentary

After the hit-and-run accident that killed UConn freshman Carlee Wines in 2007, the university went into a frenzy. There was heavy news coverage, and suddenly, everyone began to question the safety on campus. With UConn in the spotlight for both the accident and the heavy pedestrian traffic during all hours of the day and night, the university had to do something.

A lot of good came from several different committee meetings on campus safety, and the university did put forth a number of efforts to encourage safe rides and make crosswalks more visible. However, over two years have passed, and it's time to take a step back and look at what's actually working.

One of the remedies was the bright yellow pedestrian crossing signs in the middle of crosswalks. Anyone who has passed these signs in more recent times may notice that a lot of them are roughed up and moved slightly to one side of the road. Some of them have stickers on them. Also, sometimes they're knocked over, moved to the sidewalk or outright stolen. Time has shown that these signs in the middle of the crosswalk are more of a nuisance than a help, and the university should either move them onto the sidewalks or get rid of them all together.

At first, these signs were only placed on North Eagleville Road, where Wines was hit. Over the past two years, they've spread to all crosswalks all around campus, and they've become a downright safety hazard. Many of these signs are beat up because they've been hit several times by cars, which isn't hard for even sober drivers to do. Often, these pedestrian signs are already pushed over to one side of the road, so it's very easy to hit them while trying to avoid other cars. While simply trying to get around a car legally parked on the side of a road, or a bus that's stopped for a bit of time, the driver has that sign in the way.

Also, while trying to avoid other cars, these signs force drivers to drive on the wrong side of the road. Going up the hill on Alumni Drive past the Hilltop dorms at night, there's often a car standing on one side of the road. The thing is, it's a very narrow road to begin with, so it becomes a maze of driving from the right side to the left side to avoid these cars. On any given day, you can see buses driving to the left side of the road in many areas because those signs are in the way.

While these signs were intended to help drivers see pedestrians, they can obscure those who walk right behind them. They've become dangerous to pedestrians because cars swerve around the signs and may potentially hit someone closer to the sidewalk. They're dangerous to drivers who have to drive on the wrong side of the road to get around them. There are better ways make crosswalks more visible, like making sure the paint is always reflective or keeping bright signs on the side of the road. At this point, those crosswalk signs are just old and in the way.

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