Student gov­ern­ment and the Department of Public Safety (DPS) are work­ing to improve cam­pus cross­walk safety.

Prior to the recent death of a stu­dent at a cross­walk, stu­dent gov­ern­ment and DPS’ Traffic Safety Team (TST), that has been in effect since 2003, is reley­ing on three E’s: engi­neer­ing, edu­ca­tion and enforcement.

The engi­neer­ing por­tion of TST is seek­ing to add cross­walk sign upgrades, cross­walk speed bumps and strobes to dis­play dri­ver speeds in order to enforce cam­pus speed lim­its. Morrison Street, next to Burger King, was also turned into a one-way street because of TST. Likewise, shrub­beries in the medi­ans have been added to dis­cour­age jay walk­ing.

The jay walk­ing tick­ets passed out at the begin­ning of the fall semes­ter, although a nui­sance to some stu­dents were intended to make stu­dents aware of the dan­gers, not rep­ri­mand them.

“These tick­ets weren’t actu­ally tick­ets,” said Claire Gould, stu­dent gov­ern­ment pres­i­dent. “They were actu­ally edu­ca­tional fliers.”

Nearly 4,500 fliers were pre­sented to both dri­vers and pedes­tri­ans. DPS cat­a­loged their flier warn­ings as to not repeat their mes­sage to the same stu­dents, which helped with enforc­ing rules to more students.

Contrary to dri­vers’ opin­ions, the pedes­trian gen­er­ally has the right of way.

According to the Ferris State University Traffic Safety Team Laws and Ordinances, Section 7.2, Pedestrian right of way, cross­walk, when traffic-control sig­nals are not in place or not in oper­a­tion, the dri­ver of a vehi­cle shall yield the right-of-way, slow­ing down or stop­ping if need be to so yield, to a pedes­trian cross­ing the road­way within a cross­walk when the pedes­trian is upon the half of the road­way upon which the vehi­cle is trav­el­ing, or when the pedes­trian is approach­ing so closely from the oppo­site half of the road­way as to be in danger.

However, accord­ing to the same ordi­nances no pedes­trian shall sud­denly leave a curb or other place of safety and walk or run into the path of a vehi­cle, which is so close that it is impos­si­ble for the dri­ver to yield.

“Drivers and pedes­tri­ans need to real­ize that traf­fic rules apply to both par­ties,” said Gould. “The right of way depends on the situation.”

Issues of pedes­tri­ans cross­ing with head­phones on or tex­ting while they are cross­ing is also an area of investigation.

“We’re all adults and should be able to walk and multi-task,” said Gould. “People using these devices should be extra care­ful to look both ways before enter­ing the road.”

TST recently installed pedes­trian cross­walk signs at the cor­ners of State and South Street and State and Ferris Drive.

In addi­tion to enforce­ment of cross­walk rules, Eric Mundt, stu­dent gov­ern­ment trea­surer and cam­pus affairs chair, is cur­rently work­ing to com­pile a report to assist admin­is­tra­tors with cross­walk upgrades. The report will be sim­i­lar to the cam­pus affairs committee’s fall 2008 bike rack report.

Mundt, along with Morgan Toms and Sandra Winchell, stu­dent gov­ern­ment cam­pus affairs rep­re­sen­ta­tives, are pho­tograph­ing every cross­walk on cam­pus to illus­trate dan­ger zones. The cam­pus affairs com­mit­tee will pro­vide stu­dents the oppor­tu­nity to sug­gest cross­walk improvements.

“We just want every­one to be safe and this report will show areas of need,” said Mundt. “We hope that this will keep all stu­dents safe whether they’re dri­vers or pedestrians.”

For more infor­ma­tion about cam­pus cross­walk safety and a list of TST ordi­nances, visit fer​ris​.edu/​h​t​m​l​s​/​o​t​h​e​r​s​r​v​/​c​a​m​p​u​s​s​a​f​e​ty/.