Just a couple of months ago, it seemed Milwaukee police officers (as well as our Department of Public Safety) had their hands full trying to prevent muggings of Marquette students. Apparently they have since gotten bored.
In their attempt to teach jaywalking students a lesson, they have been deliberately monitoring our area for violators and issuing citations ranging from $63 to $76. While we acknowledge jaywalking is illegal, the high, targeted fines seems excessive, to say the least.
That said, we understand students can be oblivious to the cars around them. All too often, we become distracted by our phones or by talking with our friends while crossing the street. It is easy to get lulled into a false sense of security and stop paying attention to cars when we are surrounded by a mass of other students. Enough cars do stop for students that jaywalking hardly seems like a big deal.
But it can be a big deal. A report from the Federal Highway Administration found that of all car-pedestrian collisions, the pedestrian alone was at fault 43 percent of the time. Both the driver and the pedestrian were found responsible 13 percent of the time. This means that for the majority of collisions, the pedestrian is at fault in some way.
Most students can probably attest to either having had or witnessed at least one close call between a car and a student pedestrian. Just last Wednesday, a student was reported to have been struck by a car near 16th and Wells. Though this particular incident was minor, these are serious concerns, and we can understand why drivers in the area are upset.
We should not be creating hazardous conditions for Milwaukee drivers. They too have a right to be here, and they should not have to be terrified of hitting a college student darting out against the light on their way home from work.
At the same time, we are on a college campus, and drivers need to remember this. Around 11,000 people are walking around this area every single day. Chances are, they are going to jaywalk.
We also have to ask whether the Milwaukee Police Department has nothing better to do than wait around to give us tickets. If a police officer happens to be driving through the area and sees a jaywalker, it is perhaps justifiable for the officer to exercise her or his own judgment and — if warranted — issue the student a ticket. But is staking out campus really necessary? We understand MPD is trying to make a point, but their method is simply insulting.
We are students. Besides tuition and room and board, we pay for food, parking, bus passes, clothes, health, entertainment, sporting events and beer. We contribute to the city economically. We also contribute to the city socially, as most students are involved in community service activities in some form or another.
This does not mean we are above the law. It does mean that we should not be treated by our police like misbehaving children who need to be watched and admonished. It means we should not have to be scared of getting a $70 ticket for walking across a street when the road is clear.
As the weather gets colder and roads get slicker, cars will have more difficulty stopping suddenly to accommodate jaywalking students. Students simply must be smart. It is not worth dying to catch up with a friend or get to class a minute sooner.
But as the weather gets colder, though, it is going to be more annoying for students to wait, freezing, for a walk sign to cross the street when there is not a car in sight. We would implore that any police officers use their own discretion in such a situation and actually assess if a student poses any legitimate danger by crossing.
There is no shortage of real problems in Milwaukee. The police should not be wasting valuable city resources by waiting to catch a bunch of 20-somethings crossing the street too early.
ledo930 • Nov 30, 2011 at 1:10 pm
to poly and ladydriver:
Check out this link from the Wisconsin DOT: http://www.dot.wisconsin.gov/safety/motorist/pedestrians/rules.htm
The second bullet point states that drivers must “yield to pedestrians who have started crossing at an intersection or crosswalk on a “walk” signal or a green light, if there is no walk signal”.
If you are a driver with a left turn signal and the walk sign is on then you MUST yield to pedestrians. If the walk signal is not on, the pedestrian is obviously in the wrong. On campus, not many of the intersections have left turn arrows and for the few of them that do, I believe that the walk sign always turns on either at the same time as the turn signal or a few seconds later (e.g. the ones in front of Gesu and Cudahy).
Regardless: if you are making a left turn on an arrow, you STILL need to be aware of pedestrians. Unless they do not have a walk sign, they are NOT jaywalking, and it is the driver’s responsibility to be aware of this.
The point of the article is that sure, students need to wizen up and be more careful, but drivers do, too – this is a perfect example of why.
ladydriver • Nov 17, 2011 at 2:56 pm
This is a real problem and you are posing a legitimate danger by jaywalking although you may not view it this way when you are on the receiving end of a ticket. If students would obey the signals in the busiest areas, I don’t think this would be an issue. 16th street is a very high traffic area, not to mention Wells and Wisconsin. It’s so busy that left turn green arrows are installed so that the traffic doesn’t get so backed up. When you are making a left turn on a green arrow, you are not expecting students to be in the street stopping traffic. You are posing a legitimate danger by doing this. If this was the occassional student jaywalking, you wouldn’t have drivers complaining, but you have large groups of students doing this on a regular basis. You are being treated like misbehaving children because you are acting like misbehaving children-he did it so I can too. There are other colleges in high traffic areas and you never see these students jaywalking. They also contribute to the city economically and still have respect for the law. Props to MPD. Keep writing those tickets.
9894postonk • Nov 17, 2011 at 2:46 pm
Dear Milwaukee Drivers,
Please read the rules of the road. When your light is green and you are turning left, this does not mean proceed with no caution. Pedestrians are given the walk sign at this point. Just this week I saw three cars honk and give obscene gestures to students when they actually were in the right. Also, a yellow light does NOT mean speed up. The students are receiving the numbers counting down and you are speeding up? Also, red means stop. These seem like simple rules yet in the past week I have seen 3 cars, 2 on 16th intersection, and one by the library (a very popular crossing) blow red lights and students almost got hit. In fact one of these cars was a Milwaukee Public Works truck. Why is ticketing jaywalkers all of a sudden the only way to fix multiple problems?
poly • Nov 17, 2011 at 2:13 pm
Dear Marquette Jaywalking Students: I hope the police continue to monitor the area and write jaywalking tickets. When you jaywalk, you endanger the driver as well as yourself. I have seen countless times when students stop traffic at a traffic light because they have the need to jaywalk. Additionally, when cars have the right of way to turn left on a green arrow, they should be able to complete the turn without stopping for jaywalkers. I hope the police continue to write tickets because if you get enough tickets, maybe you will see the seriousness of the matter and realize that you are breaking the law and endangering the lives of others. This is not a matter of a bunch of 20-somethings crossing the street too early; this is a matter of breaking the law, endangering lives, and not caring.