Most of us get in our cars only thinking about getting from Point A to Point B.
students often walk across the entrance of Shima 1 parking lot. PHOTO BY JUSTIN TRISTANO
Driving cautious and safe isn’t always on our minds, so at times we drive mindlessly and distracted.
It’s critical that we drive safe. Needless to say school zones and parking lots should not be an exception. But many Delta College students don’t drive safe on campus.
The set speed limit of 10-miles-per hour in parking lots is often ignored.
“The main thing that I see is people driving too fast, the speed limit on every one of the surface streets is 25 except for the one over by Target which is South
Burke Bradley is 30, all of the parking lots every single one on campus is 10 miles per hour so people are driving way too fast in the lots,” said Campus Safety Officer Susan McAnelly.
Campus police observe other bad driving habits as well.
“The second thing we’ve noticed is the distracted driving, people doing something else whether it be talking on their phone, talking to whoever in the car looking around basically not paying attention,” said McAnelly. “The last thing probably that we’ve seen is people tend to cut corners … we’ve had quite a few accidents like that I’ve had two just in the last couple weeks.”
There has been a lot more traffic on the south side of campus this semester, due to the new Science and Math Building. There are a lot of pedestrians crossing the road or walking along the side of the road because there isn’t a full walkway for students yet.
Delta is working on making a walkway to the building to increase safety for students, said McAnelly.
However, McAnelly said that is a red zone, which means no stopping.
Following campus traffic rules will make for safer drivers.
Some students said they drive safe on campus overall.
“I drive very safe. I drive the speed limit and watch for pedestrians” said Levertis Woolfolk. “I don’t see too many accidents, because people don’t want their car hit.”
Woolfolk also has a message for students while driving: “The text can wait!”