Speeding Knows No Stop Lights

There was a big article on the front page of the Michigan Daily this morning about a student who got hit by a car yesterday evening as she was crossing Bonisteel and Murfin on North Campus. A Department of Public safety representative said that speeding is more rampant on North Campus because there are fewer stop signs on North Campus. I’m sorry, but the only thing that curtails speeding behavior on Central Campus is physics. If there is no vehicular traffic between East University and State, I guarantee you that most cars and trucks and motorcycles will treat South University as though they were on I-94. Now, I’m not saying it’s all the fault of the vehicles. If I were a driver and I were trying to get anywhere in the center of town most days, especially the area around State and William, I would be highly frustrated by the almost practiced obliviousness of the pedestrians in that area, most of whom act like State Street is some sort of pretty concrete footpath and that the big shiny vehicles all around them don’t exist.