Thursday, September 13, 2007
At the University of Kansas, there are many battles going on. There’s the academic struggle to survive and keep that GPA higher than your shoe size. There’s the struggle to get that one guy or girl you like to ask you out because you’re too shy to do it yourself. There’s the struggle to come up with a biweekly witty column every two weeks. No, wait, that’s just me.
One of the biggest battles on campus is Man vs. Machine. And by man, I mean pedestrian, and by machine, I mean motorized vehicle.
Now, the University of Kansas is a college campus and there are a lot of students and professors walking around. By walking around these people become pedestrians. ‘Pedestrians’ a term coming from the word ‘ped’ meaning foot and ‘strians’ meaning some sort of chord progression-sounding thingy. So, it always amazes me when someone zips around a corner of a parking lot, almost hits me and looks at me like I just fell out of the sky. He mouths words at me which I’m pretty sure are something like, “Hey, have a nice day!”
A lot of people would blame near-hits on people who talk on their cell phones while driving. This is a common variable but I’ve found the one factor in every near-hit case that causes all near accidents: the car is being driven by a person.
Now, it would be nice of people to drive more carefully in parking lots, not stop halfway in the crosswalk and not hit people, unless those people are wearing Ugg boots. However, courtesy goes on both ends.
Pedestrians need to make sure to look both ways before crossing the street, especially if they’re not at a crosswalk. Hey, Jayhawks jaywalk; just do it jay-smartly.
Also, at night, cars really can’t see you. It’s almost easier to see a ninja in the night.
Although occasionally you can get away with darting in front of a car, you are most certainly suicidal if you do it in front of a bus. It takes a lot to stop a huge bus. Do not run out in front of the bus, unless you really, really don’t want to go to COMS 130. Ever again.
In addition, your fellow students ride the buses and are in just as much of a hurry as you to get to class on time. It’s annoying for them to have to sit on the bus for ten minutes because of the cattle, I mean students, constantly clogging the crosswalks. It makes the buses late, it makes your fellow classmates late and it makes the bus drivers cranky.
It’s especially annoying on the hill between Watson library and Stauffer-Flint Hall. It’s hard enough for the buses to get enough momentum to get up the hill without them getting stopped halfway up it because of students darting into the crosswalk.
So, drivers be courteous and be more aware of pedestrians. Pedestrians, be courteous and be more aware of cars, especially buses. And, my professors, please be courteous and be more aware that I’d like ‘A’s this semester.
Hartz is a Stilwell junior in creative writing.
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