Two weeks. Three students. Zero response.
In the past two weeks, three students have been injured by moving vehicles on the University’s campus.
The first incident occurred Oct. 4 around 1:15 p.m. when Dominic Gulino, a 21-year-old student, was lounging in the grass of the usually tranquil Quad. Suddenly, a maintenance truck, driven by Facility Services employee William Earl Bujol, 40, accidentally rolled over Gulino’s upper body.
Gulino sustained minor, visible injuries to his face but was walking after the incident. He refused to go to the hospital with police or emergency responders at first but went on his own later.
“The safety of the students, faculty and staff and our employees is a top priority for our organization,” said Tammy Millican, manager of communications and grants for Facility Services. “We’re reviewing our procedures to ensure that we’re operating in the safest manner possible as we travel around campus to perform our maintenance work.”
Six days later, Jinjuta Jirawatjunya, a 25-year-old international student from Thailand, was hit by a white Buick Lucerne while in the crosswalk at the intersection of North Stadium and Nicholson drives on Oct. 10. The car, driven by an unnamed student, was attempting to turn left from the Old Alex Box parking lot onto Nicholson Drive when it struck Jirawatjunya, who had the right-of-way, at the waist, causing her head to hit the driver’s side windshield.
Jirawatjunya sustained injuries to her head and face from hitting the pavement. She was put on a stretcher and taken to Baton Rouge General Hospital in Mid City. Jirawatjunya’s friend, Adriana Soto, went with Jirawatjunya to the hospital and said she was responsive and coherent.
A week later, Andrew Rauch, was hit by a white Chevrolet Suburban around 4:30 p.m. while riding a longboard at a crosswalk in front of the Music and Dramatic Arts Building on the corner of Dalrymple and Infirmary drives on Wednesday.
Rauch was put on a stretcher and removed from the scene in stable condition less than 20 minutes after the accident.
When asked for comment on the first two accidents, Interim Chancellor William Jenkins responded with a statement similar to Millican’s.
“The safety of our students, faculty, staff and campus visitors is our top priority in everything we do,” Jenkins said. “There is great concern anytime an accident occurs on campus, and we are always looking for ways to improve the well-being of everyone at LSU.”
LSU Police Department spokesman Capt. Cory Lalonde did not mention any specific plan to improve campus safety.
“We’re going to continue educating the public,” he said. “Students need to be aware, as well as drivers, and they need to pay attention to traffic laws and their surroundings.”
All three students involved in each incident had the right-of-way.
A poll conducted on The Daily Reveille’s website reveals that nearly 73 percent of the 124 respondents have come close to being hit by a car while walking on campus.
Theatre sophomore John Michael Moore said he has almost been hit three times by vehicles at the same crosswalk as Rauch this semester. Moore said cars “just speed through” most pedestrian walkways on campus.
Administrators should make it better known to travelers that the University is a pedestrian campus and walkers usually have the right-of-way, Moore said, adding that more signs might be necessary.
“I just want to see some actual changes,” Moore said. “We’re giving directions through signs, and if people are still getting hit, maybe we just need to put more up.”
Katie Messina, kinesiology sophomore, said she has also come close to being hit by a vehicle on campus. People should be more responsible and pay attention when driving through campus, she said.
“I’ve seen tons of people violating speed limits. There are people who fly down the street,” Messina said. “I actually have a friend who was hit last year on her bike.”
Messina said Jenkins’ response to the incidents was empty and he needs to be less vague about his plan to improve safety.
“It just kind of sounds like rhetoric,” Haul said about Jenkins’ statement. “Something’s going to have to be done. I mean, three students in two weeks.”
