 "Photo: N/A")
All of campus was buzzing with pedestrians and cyclists as classes began last week.
This means a new season of frustration has arrived for many Muncie residents who wish students didn't walk into the street in front of their cars; it's also when students wish drivers knew who has the right-of-way.
That is the question: Who really has the right-of-way on campus?
There was already an accident between a bicyclist and a car Monday near the Scramble Light.
Almost exactly a year ago, on Sept. 1, 2009, a student walking her bike was struck by a car near Noyer Hall.
As a non-traditional student at Ball State, I walk or bike to class. As a homeowner in a nearby campus neighborhood, I drive through campus several times every day. I have experienced the frustrations and near-miss incidents in all cases.
Just who do students believe has the right-of-way — cars or pedestrians? I had to ask.
"Pedestrians, 100 percent, anywhere on campus," Chris Fitzjarrald, a Ball State senior at the time, who saw the Sept. 1 accident, said.
Wrong.
Bob Fey, associate director of Public Safety, said on campus, automobiles have the right-of-way in the absence of a paint-striped crosswalk. A curb cut (think wheelchair accessible) is not the same thing, nor part of the roadway, he said. Fey added that the Indiana Traffic Code gives clearer definitions.
Little more than a week after the Sept. accident, an Indiana University student was struck and killed by a car as he walked across a busy campus street.
Even one campus accident is too many.
What could be done to make one of Muncie's finest areas safer for students and members of the community?
Dear Muncie: Post signs, please.
Nearby Anderson University's campus has speed limit, pedestrian crossing and automobile right-of-way signs, as well as paint-striped crosswalks, according to Walt Smith, director of campus police and security. The signs were installed to hedge automobile accidents, not pedestrian or bike accidents, he said.
"We try to educate the students that vehicles have the right-of-way," Smith said.
Since the Sept. campus accident, the crosswalk at the cowpath has been paint-striped. Pedestrians now have the right of way there. But, there still are no speed limit or right-of-way signs posted. The speed limit on Petty Road is 30 mph. We are supposed to know that.
"A sign posting is not necessary as drivers are supposed to know, through the testing required for licensing, that, unless posted otherwise, this is the speed limit in urban areas," Stan Hiatt, city-county engineer consultant for Muncie, said.
Dear citizens: Be cautious, please.
Students, take your eyes off your iPods and phones long enough to be sure a car isn't approaching before you cross the campus streets. Remember that those cars are bigger and faster than you are — it's not worth the hurry or the risk. And note that campus intersections have walk lights and painted crosswalks where pedestrians do have the right-of-way.
Drivers, leave in time so that you won't have to hurry, slow down when driving on or near campus and yield to pedestrians in paint-striped crosswalks.
One more thing, and this is from Chapter 5 in the Indiana Driver's Manual: "Bicycles are entitled to the same right-of-way and are required to observe the same traffic laws as operators of automobiles."