C hapel Hill has experienced a rash of accidents involving pedestrians in recent months. While none of these accidents occurred on campus, they should still serve as a reminder to anyone to control their speed when driving through areas that are heavily populated by students.
Last week the Department of Public Safety took part in the statewide “No Need to Speed” initiative . This involved increasing traffic stops and posting signage about speed limits. While this is an excellent move, it will likely provide only an ephemeral effect on traffic speed, as drivers will most likely develop heavy feet once again in the absence of the initiative.
Therefore, in addition to the excellent service provided by the crossing guards on South Road, UNC should look to make changes that would have more long-term effects.
One simple solution would be to increase the number of signs stating the speed limit on campus. Studies have shown that these have little influence in areas with high speeds, but do show some effects on traffic speed in areas that have slower traffic .
Furthermore, studies have also shown that variable speed limit signs have a significant impact on speeds. These signs have digital displays that can change according to the time of day or situation of the roads . This would require a significant amount of funding, but could have a large payoff.
A more radical option would be to mimic the University of Virginia’s use of gates to only allow certain cars on campus during the daytime . While this would not work on a heavily used street such as South Road, it could possibly be implemented on roads such as Cameron Avenue.
There is no doubt the University has done excellent work to promote traffic safety, but speeding is a continual problem that needs constant attention.
