Should students have to risk injury to get to class, the library, their residence hall or even the neighborhood convenience store? The obvious answer is no, yet students and faculty alike must gamble with their lives each and every time they need to cross the intersection of Second and “D” Streets.
For years, the traffic on “D” Street has posed a problem for anyone wishing to cross the street to get to the AAIC building, the Oaks, Circle K and more recently, the Wilson Library. And each year, traffic increases as a result of more students attending ULV and a larger number of commuter students, yet there remains only a two-way stop sign on Second Street, one of the busiest intersections on campus.
Furthermore, the intersection causes a hazard for drivers wishing to exit campus. It has always been somewhat of a blind intersection, with the parking spaces along “D” Street, but now that diagonal parking spaces have also been added south of Second Street, it is impossible to see approaching cars. A driver has to ease out inch-by-inch until he or she is practically half way through the intersection before he or she can see whether or not it is safe to proceed.
According to Jeff Allred, assistant city manager of La Verne, plans to add a four-way stop at the intersection have recently begun. A traffic engineer has reviewed the intersection and its hazards and has concluded that a four-way stop sign is needed. The proposition goes in front of the City Council Monday night for a vote. If it passes, the stop signs will be added to the intersection within a short period of time.
The Campus Times urges the City Council to vote in favor of the four-way stop sign. The city cannot keep ignoring all the close calls which both pedestrians and motorists experience daily. A four-way stop sign may not eliminate all hazards at the intersection, but would drastically reduce them, increasing the safety of the University students and the entire La Verne community. Shouldn’t safety be the number one concern in the minds of the City Council? Wouldn’t it be worth the miniscule amount of time and money it would take to install the little red octagon?
According to the La Verne Police Department, there has been only one reported non-injury traffic collision at the intersection in 1993 and 1994 combined, but is this any reason not to install a four-way stop sign at the intersection? What about the unless number of near-miss accidents that happen everyday but go unreported? Countless times, pedestrians in the crosswalk have almost been hit by speeding motorists who do not see them until it is almost too late. Motorists wishing to cross “D” Street have inched out into the intersection far enough to see traffic, only to be almost sideswiped by a passing car. Installing a stop sign on “D” Street would significantly reduce hazards for both pedestrians and motorists in all directions.
Unsigned editorials represent the opinion of the Campus Times Editorial Board.
