IU Pedestrians: Suicidal? Or Just Plain Dumb?

(First off I would like to point out that it is not my intention to be insensitive with this subject, but to raise awareness of something far too many people are ignoring. I would also like to point out that I do not in any way intend to place blame on either the drivers, or the pedestrians, involved in recent accidents on campus, as every situation is different.)

I am truly in awe at how STUPID some people can be. Everyone is aware that a student was hit and killed in an accident last week, and that two more accidents also occurred where the students were just injured. DOES THIS NOT MAKE YOU WANT TO BE A LITTLE MORE CAREFUL WHEN CROSSING STREETS, OR DRIVING ON THEM FOR THAT MATTER?

Since these accidents occurred, I have CONSIDERABLY reduced the speed I drive while on campus, particularly during the day when there are a lot of students. But ladies and gentlemen, there are two parties in these scenarios, and regardless of how cautious drivers are, it is still your responsibility to be careful as a pedestrian. On the way home today I literally almost ran over 3 different people, while I was only going about 10 miles per hour. People were constantly just running out in the middle of the street without so much as looking at what was going on around them, and then when noticing a car was approaching they would get mad and throw their hands in the air like they had the right to be in the middle of the street. Not to mention that all of these incidents occurred within feet of a stop sign/cross walk.

If there's a cross walk, USE IT. Yes, many drivers still do not pay enough attention to these, which is another problem, but for god's sake if it's at a stop sign? No matter how hard we are watching for people who may be running across the street, our reaction times can only be so fast and you need to at least LOOK before you cross. News flash: These ARE open and operating streets which are intended for the use of driving cars. I don't know what the big surprise is there.


That being said, I can only hope that ALL of you will PLEASE start paying more attention: Both as a driver and a pedestrian. These accidents ARE preventable and no friends or family should have to go through what I'm sure those of people like Peter Duong went through.