Apparently, Purdue University is trying out crossing guards.

[conuly]

The article is accompanied by four related articles on pedestrians being struck by cars there.

Now, I picked this up at FRK, where the attitude was "OMG, we're even babying grown-ups in college now, it's bad parenting!" and that might be the case. However, if I were to make a view from JUST this article (and I'm about to do that, though it's a very short and uninformative article and I'm aware I don't have all the facts) my view would be different.

Let's look at two quotes:

"When I was in undergrad and we didn't have the yield sign, it was pretty obvious you don't take the right of way from cars."

and

"I think they are needed because people walk through and they won't pay attention," said student Megan Collins.

Now, here's an interesting thing. I took the time to actually look up Indiana's laws regarding pedestrians, and as near as I can tell, pedestrians have the right of way at all crosswalks unless they, you know, take a running jump at a moving vehicle or something.

If the situation is such that many people (as indicated by the comments) think that travel belongs to drivers, and that the responsibility for paying attention is ONLY on pedestrians, the problem is bigger than "Some people, when walking, are texting or listening to music". (Which is not to say that when walking along you should be totally unaware, that's absurd, just that there's something screwy about a system that doesn't put people at the center.)

Comments

[mc776]

The way I was brought up, I've pretty much been trained to understand intellectually* that people on foot have right of way, but act as though the drivers did. It seems to make sense to me, since have much less freedom to turn or suddenly stop and so are more predictable and the pedestrian has the easier time between the two of them to make the ultimate decision, but if anything happens the pedestrian has much more to lose so the driver should bear more responsibility.

*based entirely on hearsay - I must admit I've never read a statute in my life that spelled out who had right of way.

[ancarett]

It's Purdue University (my alma mater). They're also having the police run an enforcement blitz, trying to get the many speeders and scofflaws who zip through intersections and strike or threaten the pedestrians.

There is a huge car culture in the area. Not as big as California, but public transit's anemic in the city so many, many students, staff and faculty drive down to the campus, exacerbating the situation.

[codeman38.livejournal.com]

Heck, even when there is a yield sign, it's often poorly enforced.

There is this one crosswalk near campus that I use frequently. There's no stop light or anything there, but there is a very clearly marked yield sign warning drivers to yield to pedestrians in the crosswalk.

People drive through it all the time when I've got one foot in the crosswalk, with a very clear intention of crossing.

[codeman38.livejournal.com]

Also, I notice a certain ableist streak at work in the comments too.

I have a really hard time judging the speed and distance of cars due to my visual processing quirks. (Often, it's easier for me to hear how far away traffic is than see it.) I actually got hit by a car once at Mercer because I thought the driver was stopping to let me cross...and she wasn't.

[lakidaa.livejournal.com]

It's pretty much 'Pedestrians always have the right of way' in my town, I think?

Presumably because in MAN VS CAR, the car will always win so the car is the responsible party. I think it's the same with bicycles. people > bikes > cars?

I think the whole 'cars have right of way' thing is just so bizarre because that was one of the things beat into my head when I was learning to drive; 'ALWAYS yield to a pedestrian'.

[queenlyzard.livejournal.com]

there's something screwy about a system that doesn't put people at the center

This line sadly applies to so many many things in our society.