TO THE EDITOR:
Stepping outside Wilson Library can be a hazardous activity. Bicycles, skateboarders, rollerbladers and even motorcyclists have converted the broad walkway east of Wilson into a highway.
Travelers round the Undergraduate Library corner at high speed, and gain velocity heading downhill toward the Bell Tower. These drivers risk taking out pedestrians while fracturing their own collarbones if they hit a loose brick.
The situation isn’t a lot better on other parts of the campus, particularly for me. I lack peripheral vision, and find it necessary to skulk along the edges of walkways to reduce the chances of being surprised by speeders. The real problem is cultural: the mingling of vehicles with pedestrians has become the normal state on college campuses. No one intends harm; but when mounted on a bicycle, the degree of intimidation that one can cause to pedestrians drops out of consciousness.
Enforcement of existing regulations might help, but there are not enough safety officers for that to be the main answer. Much depends, instead, on the creation of a new culture of respect for pedestrian safety, in which the safety of fellow citizens makes the operation of vehicles in pedestrian areas unthinkable and uncool. Won’t you please consider setting such an example?
Tim Hodgon
Employee
Wilson Library
