Editor,
I am writing this letter because I have finally figured out what is wrong with many of the drivers on campus: no one cares.
They don't care if they go the wrong way down a one-way street or parking lot (i.e. the streets by the old Sigma Chi house and the CRF parking lot near UNM Hospital.) They don't think about the possibility of hitting pedestrians when they run stop signs so carelessly. Many times, even the bicyclists run the stop signs. I don't know where these people are from but in the real world we live by rules to avoid incidents involving death and dismemberment. Everyone's in so much of a hurry to get nowhere, it's pathetic.
Let me not be a hypocrite. I drive a University vehicle during work hours and I am guilty of being impatient with pedestrians at times. Usually though this is after five cars have cut me off.
I've seen it dozens of times -- the car in front has the right of way yielded to it so the car behind it speeds up behind the first car tailgating it just to make it to the stop sign quicker (no cop no stop, right? This seems to be a common attitude.) I ask this one rhetorical question: Is it worth saving a few seconds to endanger not only your own life and vehicle but the lives and vehicles of others?
Once again, my answer: no one cares. Whatever they are supposed to be doing is infinitely more important and world altering than whatever you could possibly be doing. These people drive their BMW or Lexus or Dodge or whatever talking on their cell phones instead of paying attention to the road.
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So what am I trying to say? I'm trying to beg everyone, from the pedestrians to the drivers to the bicyclists to the unicyclists to slow down! Be patient. It might seem worth it to risk a collision to save a few seconds, but think it over before you take that risk. We don't want to be thrown in jail on charges of involuntary manslaughter, do we? Not that I'm saying this will happen every time you run a stop sign, but it's like those marijuana commercials on TV, you might not get caught the first time, maybe not the second time, maybe not the hundredth time, but eventually you will get caught. We don't want to be paying tickets for reckless driving, do we?
Or just keep driving recklessly. Maybe when you hit another vehicle and have to pay a ticket in addition to your insurance deductible you might change your habits. And if that doesn't change your mind, maybe when you hit someone and their bloodied face is resting on your windshield and they're looking at you with their empty, dead eyes you might think about what I'm trying to ask from you right now. Be patient.
Louis D. Herring
UNM student
