With a focus on recent traf­fic inci­dents, new uni­ver­sity task­force is look­ing to increase pedes­trian safety

In light of the recent stu­dent death and other vehicle-pedestrian related inci­dents on cam­pus, the uni­ver­sity has begun tak­ing mea­sures to ensure bet­ter stu­dent cross­walk safety.

Robert von der Osten, Chair of the Strategic Planning and Resource Council (SPARC), said, “The coun­cil iden­ti­fied the need for a task force to inves­ti­gate how we can improve the safety of the cam­pus, espe­cially the inter­ac­tion of vehi­cles and pedestrians.”

He added that the Facility Master Plan, which was devel­oped last year based on input from the cam­pus com­mu­nity, has a long-range plan for the cam­pus design and dis­cusses the need to address trans­porta­tion issues.

Junior Pam Kurylowicz says to increase pedes­trian safety, the uni­ver­sity needs to teach stu­dents and dri­vers on cam­pus how to be safer.

“My mom taught me to look both ways before I crossed the street and I con­tinue to do that to this day,” she said. “Unfortunately, too many of today’s youth drive every­where and never have to learn how to safely cross the street.”

She believes it would be a good idea to teach pedes­trian and vehi­cle safety on cam­pus through an FSUS sem­i­nar rather than hav­ing DPS hand out slips of paper regard­ing pedes­trian safety at the begin­ning of the school year.

The task force has com­pleted its mem­ber­ship and is under the lead­er­ship of Jerry Scoby, Vice President of Administration and Finance.

“We are cur­rently work­ing on a num­ber of changes around the new Optometry build­ing site to improve the pedes­trian safety,” said Scoby. “Part of this is adding some walk­ways, and part of it is encour­ag­ing pedes­tri­ans to be care­ful in through walk­ing routes.”

He added, “We have observed many stu­dents walk­ing along or in Ferris Drive, and we want to encour­age [them] to choose routes away from the street to increase their safety.”

Kate Plessner, a sopho­more in the crim­i­nal jus­tice pro­gram, doesn’t believe there is much more the uni­ver­sity can do to pro­mote bet­ter pedes­trian safety.

“I think they have done all they can with imple­ment­ing signs that count for the cross­walk and even post­ing police offi­cers at times to watch the inter­sec­tions,” saod Plessner.

The task force is cur­rently in the process of set­ting a date for its first meet­ing and is plan­ning on hold­ing forums for mem­bers of the cam­pus com­mu­nity to share their ideas.