Preventative measures must be taken to make the U.S. West parking lot safer for pedestrians.
Picture this: It’s 9 a.m. on a Tuesday and you are strolling happily to class from your apartment that, while kind of nice, is still furnished by college students. You maybe have headphones in, you’re humming along to a song by Car Seat Headrest, or maybe Ariana Grande. Then, when walking through the parking lot, you look both ways, step out into the street and nearly get mowed over by a Lexus. Oh boy, is it a wake-up call.
All this goes to say that, over here in U.S. West apartments, we have a bit of a speeding problem. Drivers at ALL hours of the day will zip through the parking lot, even having drag races during people’s sweet sleeping hours. While pedestrians technically have right of way, the system becomes anarchy when people drive through our tiny parking lot at 30 mph. Most of the problem-causers are repeat offenders, and so far as I know, nothing has been done about it.
While the situation is no doubt a little funny, I do genuinely worry that someday, someone will get hurt. At a school where most people walk or bike to classes, there is too much possibility for both irresponsible and inattentive drivers to slip up — with devastating consequences. The parking lot of West is situated so that it can be hard to see incoming cars from a pedestrian’s perspective, and cars taking the time to be just a little more cautious around these places where both automobiles and pedestrians coincide should be a no-brainer.
As I type this out now, there is someone actively revving out of the parking lot like we live in “Tokyo Drift.” TU, I’m begging you — save us from this hell.
