2008 Woodie Awards
Creative design is not part of driving
Darwyyn Deyo
Issue date: 3/27/07 Section: Opinion
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At Saint Mary's, people seem to think that's the case. The fact that we live in an isolated area on a small campus has encouraged some to ignore the rules of the road to the point of risking accidents in a place that statistically should have very few. The risks people run, however, could change that in a heartbeat.
Take the tendency to park in the street when they're too lazy to find a parking space and walk a few feet. If you haven't noticed, we only have a one-lane road here. It's bad enough that you have to deal with crowded roads going to Lafayette, a consequence of living in that isolation. When people on campus can't be bothered to find a legitimate parking space and instead provide a roadblock for approaching drivers, maybe they'd get what they deserve if their car gets hit. Saint Mary's students have a reputation for being too lazy to walk down the hill to get to class, but being too lazy to walk from a parking space to the door, instead of the street to the door, is a new low.
Another tendency is to drive in the middle of the road. Again, we have a one-lane road-one direction each way. It also means there's no extra lane to move into if you come across reckless behavior. This is particularly frustrating when you can't see around the bend, so when the other driver finally realizes another car is coming at half of his or her car there is little time to move over again. This is especially true when people don't pay as much attention, as people don't expect there to even be such drivers on campus.
There are other examples of how people at Saint Mary's don't know how to drive anymore, such as driving through stop signs, idling for extended periods in the street, and forgetting turn signals when they do remember to stop. Even off campus, the driving doesn't get better. People insist on high beaming on Saint Mary's Road even when other cars are approaching or in front of them. Turn signals are considered optional. And on the part of the local authorities, there is a refusal to make Rheem Road safe. That road has had a repaving coming for years; if the intent is to prevent speeding, it has succeeded in spectacular car crashes. We still think we're invincible, so we keep speeding. Pave the road already.
The philosophy to driving anywhere is to keep it simple and to the point. It is not an opportunity to 'color outside the lines' or rebel against rules. Drive carefully.