by Stuart Overbey
Daily Lobo
New Mexico pedestrians walk some of the meanest streets in the nation, according to "Mean Streets 2002," a report from The Surface Transportation Policy Project.
According to the report, for the years 2000-01, a total of 120 pedestrians died in traffic accidents statewide, which translates to 3.3 pedestrian fatalities per 100,000 residents. The national average is 1.7 per 100,000.
UNM Police Cmdr. James Daniels said that the only pedestrian accident on campus in the last few years was one that occurred in November in which a student was treated and released after a car struck her.
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Daniels said the enforcement of the 20 mph campus speed limit and citing drivers who fail to yield keep the campus streets relatively safe for pedestrians.
"Pedestrians have the right of way," Daniels said. "If they use the crosswalk."
Students who walk the streets on and around campus tend to agree with the assessment of the "Mean Streets" report.
"People that drive around here don't watch for pedestrians," said sophomore Cody Schmitt. "They think that you're supposed to get out of their way."
Schmitt thought campus streets might be a little less safe than surrounding city streets due to the combination of drivers in a hurry and pedestrians who are not paying attention. "People pop out of nowhere," Schmitt said.
Freshman Jody Hosier suggested having crosswalk guards to stop traffic, especially on Central Avenue.
"I saw a couple of people almost get hit," she said.
Jasmine Ceniceros, a senior, said UNM would do well to imitate Northampton, Mass., where traffic in the university area must slow down or stop for pedestrians along a designated length of street.
"From Yale to Cornell on Central should be a big, wide crosswalk," Ceniceros said.
Streets in Berkeley, Calif., the city ranked second safest by the pedestrian safety report, have "chirping" crosswalk indicators downtown. The city has plans to install more, according to an article in The Daily Californian.
In Albuquerque, the Public Works Department installed a demonstration crosswalk indicator at a long pedestrian crossing on Paseo del Norte, according to Dave Harmon, Public Works traffic engineer. The indicator counts down the seconds until the light turns red.
"It gets them onto the sidewalk a little sooner," he said.
Harmon said any device that helps pedestrians better understand how to cross the street would provide the greatest boost to safety.
"So many accidents are the result of pedestrian error," Harmon said.
But as far as the crossings on city streets around campus, Harmon said there were no specific plans to upgrade or change them at this time.
Campus officials have no control over the design of pedestrian crossings on city streets, even on the campus perimeter, according to Bob Bunnington, campus safety manager. Bunnington often observes on-campus pedestrian crossings himself and said he sees mistakes from both pedestrians and drivers.
"Students tend to have an open mind and go where they want to," Bunnington said. Campus planners have put crosswalks to line up with major intersections and in places where vehicles can clearly see them. But to accommodate students, Bunnington said, "We'd have to make the whole street a crosswalk."
ASUNM has tried to draw attention to pedestrian safety by including it in their biannual Campus Safety Walk. The flashing lights on University Boulevard indicating pedestrian traffic were installed two years ago, due in part to ASUNM's efforts.
One campus crosswalk that has drawn the attention of various departments is the bookstore crosswalk. Bunnington said that the crosswalk is too wide and as a result vehicles and pedestrians tend to compete with each other for space.
Bunnington is a member of a task group that is currently working on modifications for that crosswalk, since the pedestrian traffic pattern will have to shift to accommodate upcoming construction in front of Popejoy Hall.
Change may also come to the pedestrian crossings of Central Avenue in front of the UNM campus, but it will be slow. Central is a focal point of the City of Albuquerque's "Centers & Corridors" comprehensive plan.
The plan aims to connect centers of activity, such as downtown, the UNM area and Uptown. The designated corridor streets will be more pedestrian and bicycle friendly, and more mass-transit kiosks and seats will be installed.
But the focus of the plan seems to be on improving mass transit rather than pedestrian safety, in spite of New Mexico's continual presence at the bottom of the pedestrian safety list.
A Pedestrian Safety Plan from the New Mexico Traffic Safety Bureau in 1998 cited New Mexico's pedestrian deaths at 6.6 per 100,000 pedestrians, then twice the national average.
The plan outlined strategies to address the problem, including education/behavior modification, motor vehicle modification, and environmental/engineering changes.
