Departments
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Week of 8 January 1999 |
Vol. II, No. 18 |
Feature
Article
Drivers and dashers both at fault
University-wide efforts afoot for education and enforcement of pedestrian safeguards
By Eric McHenry
Pedestrian safety -- or lack thereof -- is a perennial concern on the Charles River Campus. One of Boston's biggest traffic arteries runs right through the heart of the city's biggest university, and the annual rate of vehicle-pedestrian accidents per mile at BU is approximately twice the citywide average.
Administrators say the University is increasingly vigilant for ways to help members of its community move about safely. Conversations among BU, city, and state officials concerning a major overhaul of Commonwealth Ave., which might ultimately mean expanded trolley platforms and fewer traffic lanes, are ongoing. In the meantime, members of the University's Traffic and Pedestrian Safety Committee are spearheading several shorter-term initiatives to improve the behavior of both pedestrians and motorists. Created in 1991 at the behest of then-Provost Jon Westling, the committee comprises faculty, staff, and students from throughout the BU community.
"It's important to recognize that there are different types of interventions that need to be considered and that no single one will take care of the problem," says committee member Ralph Hingson, professor and chairman of social and behavioral sciences at the BU School of Public Health. "In pedestrian safety, we talk about the four E's: education, engineering, enforcement, and evaluation. There's a need to develop a sense of collective action -- a sense that people can work together to create a safer environment."
Toward that end, the University has purchased two large signs that will display the speeds of passing cars. Meant to function as a deterrent to unsafe driving, the signs also herald a likely new cooperative arrangement between the BU and Boston police departments. Anthony Diorio, captain and patrol commander for the BUPD, says he hopes that there will soon be tandem University-city police details to enforce the traffic laws of which the signs are a reminder. Because members of the BU police force do not have 90(c) status -- the jurisdiction to issue citations for driving infractions -- the cooperative activity will be of considerable help in their traffic-control efforts.
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Students cross against the
light and westbound traffic on Commonwealth Ave.
This crosswalk, which connects SFA and the BU West
T stop, is a hot spot for vehicle-pedestrian
accidents, according to Lynne Smith, a member of
BU's Traffic and Pedestrian Safety Committee. "You
go over the BU Bridge and you're heading downhill,"
she says. "During rush hour it's either dark or the
sun is directly in your eyes, depending upon the
time of year. No one sees the overhanging light or
the crosswalk because they're at midblock and
there's no cross street there. And you've got the T
enticing people to run across the street. It's just
a really dangerous area, particularly from 4 to 6
p.m." Photo by Kalman
Zabarsky
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The signs increase the efficacy of such enforcement, according to Committee Chairman W. Norman Johnson, vice president and dean of students at BU, because city magistrates are less likely to dismiss citations that have been issued in areas where speeds are known to be monitored closely and consistently. "You run it for about three weeks, to make people aware of its presence," says Johnson, "and then go out there and start ticketing."
Placement of the signs will be determined in part by police and emergency medical services statistics that indicate where the potential for traffic violations and vehicle-pedestrian accidents is highest. University officials point to such spots as the BU East T stop, which is positioned in front of the 1,800-resident Warren Towers; Bay State Road, a narrow residential street that many motorists use to eschew Commonwealth Avenue's succession of stoplights; and the BU West T stop.
Over the river and . . .
"Commonwealth Avenue is really built for speed after
Kenmore Square," says committee member Lynne Smith,
assistant to Executive Vice President Joseph Mercurio. "It
opens up into three lanes. You go over the BU Bridge and
you're heading downhill. During rush hour it's either dark
or the sun is directly in your eyes, depending upon the time
of year. No one sees the overhanging light or the crosswalk
because they're at midblock and there's no cross street
there. And you've got the T enticing people to run across
the street. It's just a really dangerous area, particularly
from 4 to 6 p.m."
Smith is currently assisting in the development of another pedestrian safety project, a short informative video she says will probably be ready for presentation at the summer 1999 student orientations. Committee members hope that the video, which contains footage of dangerous traffic and pedestrian behavior, will be equally instructive to incoming students and to the city officials who have a say in how traffic is regulated at BU.
Footage on pedestrians
"In the past, what the committee has tried to do is walk
the campus with members of the Transportation Department,
the MBTA, and several other city agencies," Smith says.
"Eventually Joe Mercurio said, 'Look, the faces change, the
situation doesn't. Let's make a video.' And that's what
we've done. We've got a lot of footage, from a lot of
different vantage points, that clearly shows both vehicular
and pedestrian misbehavior -- crossing against the lights,
dashing for the T, all the things that happen on a daily
basis here."
"There are aerial shots taken from the tops of buildings," says committee member Daryl DeLuca, director of judicial affairs, "and it's absolutely amazing to watch: the day-to-day congestion and the significant pedestrian and driver violations of . . . well . . . everything."
Smith says the committee plans to produce versions of the video that will differ slightly depending upon the audience that's targeted. "We want to use it to keep the city aware that there is an ongoing problem and to educate the students, faculty, and staff," she says.
With the help of volunteers from various student organizations, DeLuca hopes to oversee, during the spring 1999 semester, a pedestrian safety awareness day similar to ones held in the past. Students stationed at primary crossing areas distribute pamphlet information and mock citations to pedestrians, and additional safety information is broadcast throughout the University community via e-mail. The last such day took place in the fall of 1997.
Committee members also intend to continue accompanying city officials on occasional walking tours of the campus. Hingson says tentative plans exist for a walk-through early this year.
"We'll walk up and down the street noting where the most injuries have taken place," he says, "and we'll observe the conditions that might be contributing to this." He hopes it will lay the groundwork for more short-term improvements of the sort the committee has periodically brought about during its seven years, such as changes in the timing and synchronization of stoplights, the posting of signs, and the repainting of crosswalks.