Several times a day Aggies make the short trek across 8th East near Romney stadium. There are two things that make this a peculiar migration pattern. It is dangerous crossing a four lane street where people are constantly turning in and out of parking lots, and at times cars parked on the side of the road block vision. There is also a crosswalk not far from where people cross.

This comes in part with the pattern of the Stadium Loop. This bus goes from the TSC to the parking lot of Romney stadium where it makes three stops. The first stop at the stadium is on the far North end, and then the bus works its way South. The second stop is where a lot of hurried Aggies exit to save a minute or two.

Looking at a the area, the apartment complex Blue Square lines up with the second stop. Instead of waiting to get off at the thirds and final stop to cross at the intersection, many people make the quick cross in front of their apartment. Students at Old Farm do similar.

Does the reward outweigh the risk? That is something many students seem to think. From the third stop on Stadium Loop to the front doors of Blue Square is about 770 feet using the crosswalk. It is a similar distance to the center of the Old Farm parking lot.

The distance from the second stop to the front doors of Blue Square is about 260 feet, while the distance to the center of the Old Farm parking lot is 660 feet. Blue Square students save quite a bit of distance, but Old Farm only saves about 100 feet.

8th East is a high trafficked street. It is the main street many take to get up to campus, and caters to the biggest parking lot for USU students. The four lanes are in use at almost all times of the day, and it even gets some traffic in the small hours of the morning. The speed limit near Romney stadium is 35 mph, which is plenty of speed to kill a pedestrian if struck. It is also a speed that would be difficult to stop from if a person stepped out from behind a car parked on the side of the road.

According to Utah law, with an intersection being that close to the area being crossed, pedestrians must use the crosswalk. Other jaywalking situations a pedestrian must yield the right-of-way to any cars on the road. There are a lot of problems here.

Most cars will take their right-of-way, but some cars impede flow of traffic by stopping for the people crossing. One car may stop, but the next car in the next lane may keep going while the pedestrian assumes they have been given the right-of-way. The driver does not have the right to give that right-of-way, and the pedestrian does not have the right to take that right-of-way, especially in four lanes of traffic.

The only time a pedestrian has a right-of-way is at a designated crosswalk.

This problem won’t be fixed unless enforced or some tragic accident occurs, but we need to realize the dangers presented and be extremely cautious while crossing the street. Most of all, use a crosswalk.