’m a college student that lives in the dorms and doesn’t have my car with me. Therefore, I have to walk to class most of the time, unless a friend takes me to class. As a student, I assume that the crosswalks are safe for me to walk across, BUT I was wrong. Almost every time I walk across a cross walk, I feel like I’m going to get hit. One time I even got yelled at for walking across the crosswalk, like what? How are you going to yell at me when I have the right away? I even pressed the little button to flash the light to tell drivers that I want to cross. But I get yelled at? It doesn’t make sense.
Although, I can see why drivers get a little upset. It gets slightly annoying when people walk in front of you flowing with traffic. HOWEVER, it’s a law to stop for pedestrians. Pedestrians get the right away. It’s just how it is. It’s even like that at Walmart and the situation at Walmart is even more annoying than the crosswalk situation.
What’s even crazier about VSU’s crosswalks is that students actually get hit. Of course, nobody ever thinks they are actually going to get hit by a car but it does happen. For example, one of my friend’s friends got hit by a car on the cross and now she isn’t alive. Supposedly the alternative for getting hit on the crosswalk is a paid tuition but I don’t see how that’s a positive alternative. Whoever gets hit is probably going to have to go to the hospital and how is that a positive alternative? Hospital bills are expensive and the emotional trauma that I assume would come along with that trauma is going to weigh on the person.
Personally, I wait and stand at the start of the school’s crosswalks so the cars passing know that I’m about to cross. I’m really not trying to get hit and I see other people BOLDLY just stepping out into traffic. Just because you’re on a crosswalk DOES NOT mean cars WON’T hit you. Not by any means am I saying that the people that just walk out into traffic deserve to get hit HOWEVER their actions increase their chance of getting hit.
Word of advice to those students walking across VSU’s crosswalks: wait before you cross and make sure cars know you are trying to cross the crosswalk by walking slowly at first and then resume to a normal pace. Other cars will stop and the surrounding cars will stop too so you will be less inclined to get hit.
