Crosswalks are designed for pedestrians to cross the road safely while speed limit signs help communicate the acceptable driving speed on the road. They’re especially important in school zones and on university campuses.

Yet the two Texas Wesleyan streets with the most vehicle and foot traffic, Wesleyan and Collard, are missing both a crosswalk and speed limit sign. This is an accident waiting to happen.

The intersection in front of the Oneal-Sells Administration Building at Wesleyan Street and Avenue D are being crossed by students, faculty and university visitors every single day to reach buildings all over the campus.

Students and faculty are constantly having to yield to vehicles driving at approximately 30-40 mph down Wesleyan Street. Although the intersection at Wesleyan Street and Avenue D has crosswalk lines, it’s hard to notice the crosswalk until the vehicles are too close and the pedestrians are already crossing.

The crosswalk is a good attempt on integrating pedestrian safety, but this isn’t a solution for people driving down the street too fast to see it.
The intersection at Collard Street and Avenue E is another intersection on campus that’s high in pedestrian traffic. Since there is a student parking lot on Avenue E, Collard Street is being walked across by students all day.

Students who park their vehicles in the parking lot on Avenue E cross Collard Street to get to classes all across campus. But there are no pedestrian crosswalk lines or sign; there is also no speed limit sign on Collard Street.

One solution for the safety of Wesleyan students, faculty and visitors is that the campus should install speed limit signs on both Wesleyan Street and Collard Street. This is to ensure all vehicles driving through understand the street is being crossed by people throughout the day, so drivers need to yield to pedestrians.

Another solution for helping with the noticeability of the crosswalk on Wesleyan Street and Avenue D intersection is adding a flashing LED pedestrian crosswalk sign that could catch a driver’s attention and be more effective.

If both the dormitory gates have flashing LED stop signs at each exit, why aren’t the two busiest intersections on campus without effective safety measures for pedestrians?

Contacting the Fort Worth Transportation and Public Works service at 817-392-1234 to report these potential issues could assist in the process of remedying these safety issues. The office is open 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday-Friday and 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday.

Although no pedestrian safety accidents have happened on campus yet, adding crosswalk lines and speed limit signs and improving pedestrian crosswalk signs with safety measures such as a flashing LED sign would help improve the safety of students and faculty on campus.