Of the on-campus traffic accidents in 2012, 20 out of 194 involved a pedestrian or someone riding a bicycle, according to LSU Police Department spokesman Cory Lalonde. This means nearly 10 percent of crashes involved walkers or bikers.
Last year saw a similar 10 percent of 2011’s accidents figure. Lalonde said because crash reports are filed differently than other reports, it is likely these numbers don’t account for all accidents.
He said students should exercise caution on and around campus, even if crosswalks seem barren or pedestrians have the right-of-way.
Lalonde said even one accident is too many, and LSUPD strives to have none.
Katie Perry, public relations senior, was hit by a car her freshman year.
Perry said she was riding a bike to the Music and Dramatic Arts building on her very first day of college. As she rounded the corner by the Parade Ground and the crosswalk, a car hit her.
Perry said she was coming from between two parked cars, so the driver couldn’t see her until she was already in the street.
“The front tire of the bike was bent in half,” she said. Perry had a minor sprained ankle but no serious injuries. She said the driver was “fairly nice” but didn’t offer to help her with the bike.
Louisiana law mandates there be a sign saying a right turn with a red light is illegal. Many intersections on the University’s campus, particularly Highland Road, don’t allow right turns during red lights, even though there may not be signs prohibiting it, according to Lalonde.
It’s unclear whether that is a main contributing factor to all accidents on campus, though Lalonde said pedestrians and bike riders should “pay attention to their surroundings and the laws.”
Some known factors of accidents or near-accidents are “one party or the other wasn’t paying attention,” or “one party or the other wasn’t obeying a rule of the road,” Lalonde said.
Bicycles have also been a campus-wide issue, and Lalonde said bikers must follow the same traffic laws as other vehicles, especially in the compact campus space.
Pedestrians shouldn’t expect to always have the right-of-way in a crosswalk because there are often drivers or bikers not paying attention, leaving walkers vulnerable even in the designated crosswalks, Lalonde said.
Since the implementation of the ‘Easy Streets’ crosswalk system, many students aren’t using the crosswalks as much as they ought to, and students are advised to use crosswalks and remove headphones or other distractions when crossing the street, as these could aid in causing accidents.
“If all of these [pedestrians, cars and bicycles] would pay attention, it would greatly reduce accidents of this nature,” Lalonde said.
Cory Bridgewater, business senior and an information guide in the Student Union, sees the off-campus crossings as the most dangerous, particularly further down Nicholson Drive.
Bridgewater has seen two bikes on campus collide and says they “should have at least been jousting” as opposed to just not paying attention.
He said he would like to see the crosswalk near the Smoothie King at Highland and State Street painted so that pedestrians and cars can see it better , and he thinks off-campus crossings should all have countdowns and clearer right-of-way signals like their on-campus counterparts.
 
____ Contact Kristen Frank at [email protected]