Over the past year 12 citizens of Auburn have been involved in pedestrian accidents.
When events like those occur, it is natural to want to point fingers and begin playing the "blame game," and every party responsible begins to look for a scapegoat.
There is no one person or entity to blame for these incidents. There are a number of factors and issues that contributed to these accidents.
However, the City of Auburn and the University do deserve some singling out.
In an effort to maintain the image of "The Loveliest Village on The Plains," the City of Auburn and the University have worked hard to create and upkeep the aesthetic beauty of our city, even mandating ratios of brick to limestone and the types of lighting fixtures and wattage to be used.
However, when aesthetics and beauty come before the health and welfare of a town's citizenry, something is dreadfully wrong.
The first responsibility of Auburn and this University should be the safety of the townspeople, students, faculty and staff.
When multiple people are being hit in pedestrian accidents, we would hope a logical group of people would sit down and find ways to make the frequency of those accidents decrease.
Instead, we have temporary floodlights installed across crosswalks along Magnolia, as we patiently wait until July to receive the custom-ordered street lights that are narrowly tailored to Auburn's high aesthetic standards.
We implore the City Council and University leaders to screw the aesthetics and get some safe, permanent fixtures onto our streets right now.
We also call upon the Auburn Police Department to place dedicated police officers along busy streets like Magnolia and College to ticket jaywalkers and speeders.
It would only take a few tickets being handed out for word of the ticketing to spread across campus.
If you hit college students in the wallet, they tend to pay attention.
Will it take someone dying for the city and University to act in a faster fashion?
We honestly have doubts even a death would spur quicker action.
Both have begun to take steps to address pedestrian safety issues, but the foot-dragging involved in any city project tend to stifle expedient, timely change.
With an issue like pedestrian safety, one where lives are certainly at stake, we would do better to act swiftly and resolutely, lest another citizen be struck down.
Personal responsibility and safe behavior also come into play with accidents such as these.
We live in an age of greatly distracted drivers, as cell phones, GPS devices, satellite radios and other electronic equipment all clamor for our attention each time we step into our vehicles.
We have all taken our eyes off the road for a moment or two to reply to a text or change a song.
However, in high volume traffic areas like Magnolia and College, drivers must maintain constant vigilance and keep their eyes on the road.
Also, the speed limit on Magnolia is 25 miles per hour. Not 30 or 35.
Speed limits are designed to take points like pedestrian traffic into effect, so please follow the guidelines created when driving along these roads.
You might not get to your destination quite so quickly, but you may prevent yourself from being tagged with a pesky vehicular manslaughter charge that might ruin your day.
Pedestrians, you, too, share responsibilities that you must uphold.
Take the time to review the tenets of good pedestrian behavior.
If you aren't familiar with the pedestrian customs of this country or area, the University is holding several seminars to help address this lack of education.
Many of these rules are simple.
Look both ways before you cross the street.
Cross only at designated crosswalks.
Do not for a moment think you have some sort of immunity to being hit by cars. You can and possibly will be hit.
Take special care while crossing at night. As we previously stated, drivers are bound to be distracted and nighttime has a lovely way of adding additional vision issues.
Pedestrian safety is an issue that requires multiple groups to act in conjunction.
All must take and uphold their responsibilities in order for all to be safe and secure.
We've seen the scenes of the accidents.
We've heard the screams of anguish and torment of those injured.
We've seen the blood and gore, more so than we thought we ever would.
If we don't take action now, the next accident puts that blood on all of our hands.
Please, we implore you all, don't become another pedestrian accident statistic.
Let us all work together and take steps to make this village, this Auburn, "The Loveliest and Safest Village on The Plains."
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