Commons Campaign: Keller, Taladay, Ryder, & Biel

COMMONS CAMPAIGN PORTFOLIO

Emily Keller, Cassidy Taladay, Madelyn Ryder, & Samantha Biel

LINK TO FINAL PRESENTATION VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yF1FgvmBlDE

PROPOSAL & DATA

The exigence of the commons campaign was campus safety. Specifically, the safety of University students on their way to class, to social activities (parties… just kidding, we’re a dry campus), and back home to the dorms. As our targeted audience, University students face a variety of awkward interactions and serious dangers when crossing streets that do not have sufficient safety mechanisms, including stop signs, painted crosswalks, and stoplights. Even when they do include these features, the ignorance of laws and regulations by pedestrians and road users alike intensifies these interactions and dangers. Both pedestrians and drivers on the campus are subject to these hindrances which can slow the flow of traffic and endanger both parties on a daily basis.

We wanted to focus on campus safety for a variety of reasons. In the beginning this problem did not seem very urgent, but after further research and surveying, we realized just how significant pedestrian safety really is. After deciding upon our focus, the issue of the most concern was that of the increased frequency of jaywalking tickets reported on campus. Recently, we have heard and witnessed several incidents where individuals received tickets for crossing the streets illegally. We decided that we would further our focus onto the development of awareness of pedestrian laws and penalties. Since ignorance affords poorly informed decisions, we want to make sure UNL students know the potential consequences before they choose to walk against a red light.

In our effort to inform the UNL community about pedestrian traffic laws, we took many steps to gather and distribute information. Emily conducted research on Nebraska traffic laws and distributed the information she found. Madelyn recorded and analyzed the data we collected while observing students cross the streets. Cassidy created and managed the Twitter account as well as overseeing the project. Samantha compiled, summarized, and edited the information gained through our project. We sent out a survey, started and kept a Twitter account, wrote a letter to the editor of the Daily Nebraskan, and created an educational video that both summarizes our main findings and urges greater mindfulness, even in the busy day-to-day life of college students.

In order to expand upon the idea of learning more about people’s knowledge and actions regarding traffic and pedestrian safety laws, we sent out a Survey Monkey that asked the following questions (responses included):    

After we gathered this information, we decided that we would proceed to the main intersections listed on the survey and take a physical count of how many people follow the pedestrian traffic laws in real life, beyond their opinions and thoughts on the matter. The intersections observed, number of jaywalkers in comparison to the amount of people crossing the street, and the amount of time spent at each location are as follows:

Location	Total Pedestrians	Total Jaywalkers	Time
16th & Vine	83	40	2:50PM-3:10PM
16th & R	128	18	3:15PM-3:35PM
14th & Vine	140	101	3:40PM-4:00PM
17th & R	56	20	4:10PM-4:30PM

During our time spent observing the pedestrians crossing the streets we thought it would be best if we live tweeted our discoveries and locations.

Our group was shocked by the large amount of people that disobeyed the pedestrian traffic laws. After studying our data, we realized that people probably do not think about the potential consequences of jaywalking as they are crossing the street, and they are not aware of what the traffic laws entail. With these conclusions in mind we decided to write a letter to the editor in chief of the Daily Nebraskan. The main goal of the letter was to bring media attention to the need for UNL students to be informed of the pedestrian traffic laws. We were not calling for immediate action, but we want to give UNL students the resources they need to be knowledgeable about the rules of their campus.

Our group tackled an issue that is very relevant to daily life in Lincoln. We were able to utilize and access popular methods of public advocacy. Taking advantage of the connections that we have to various groups (i.e. Greek chapters and other student organizations) on campus allowed us to compile diversified data and share our results with a public beyond any of us as individuals. We set a realistic goal for our target audience and objectives, and met them. Twitter was the strongest form of communication we could have used because it fosters interaction and commentary. Our generation does not like to have information thrown at us without being able to react or respond to it, so the interactivity of Twitter afforded us the chance to make a serious issue resonate with students. If we were to do the project differently, we would have interviewed a broader range of people on the street for their opinion on the traffic laws. We originally wished to set up a booth in the Union to interview more individuals and provide them with information, but unfortunately it is very difficult to get approved for a spot in the Union. We chose to do an online survey to reach more people, but with a greater audience we would have been given more detailed data to help us customize the way we present our jaywalking information to be most useful to UNL students.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Dear Chris Heady,

As students and citizens of the University and of Lincoln, we are writing to inform and discuss a variety of issues that have appeared in our study of pedestrian laws and regulations on the University of Nebraska campus. Over the course of the past month, we have been working to increase student’s awareness of the enforcement and penalty of traffic violations. In doing so, it has come to our attention that so many University students are uninformed and entirely unaware of the potential costs that come with crossing illegally, whether they have good reason to or not. There has been an excess of enforcement by campus officials regarding jaywalking, and our investigation targeted giving members of the UNL community the resources to know what their rights and restrictions are in order to make more informed decisions and weigh their options.

In order to work towards a more informed student body, we spent a great deal of time researching state laws on pedestrian and vehicle safety and observed commonly utilized crosswalks across campus. Through these observations, we collected data regarding specifically the frequency of pedestrians who, by definition, jaywalked or crossed illegally at the marked intersections. An example of the data from a single day (November 23, 2015) collected is as follows:

Location	Total Pedestrians	Total Jaywalkers	Time
16th & Vine	83	40	2:50PM-3:10PM
16th & R	128	18	3:15PM-3:35PM
14th & Vine	140	101	3:40PM-4:00PM
17th & R	56	20	4:10PM-4:30PM

We were genuinely appalled by the observations made per crosswalk area; as is shown, there was an extremely high rate of violations, especially at the 14th & Vine intersection that features the diagonal crosswalk and low vehicle traffic. The frequency of violations increased what we had already addressed as a significant, relevant issue of daily life for students. It is our desire to inform students, regardless of whether they follow them or not, of the laws set in place and the penalties that can be awarded if violated. If not only for their safety, but for the ease of future interactions with University officials, as the process of receiving a fine or ticket is often more intense than the violation itself. As stated on the Lincoln Police Department Traffic website:

• No pedestrian shall cross a roadway at any place other than by a route at right angles to the curb or by the shortest route to the opposite curb except in a crosswalk.
• Every pedestrian crossing a roadway at any point other that within a marked crosswalk or within an unmarked crosswalk a an intersection shall yield the right-of-way to all vehicles upon the roadway.
• Between adjacent intersections at which automatic traffic signals are in operation, pedestrians shall not cross at any place except in a crosswalk.
• Notwithstanding the foregoing provisions of this section there shall not be a crosswalk where the city traffic engineer has placed appropriate signs indicating no crossing.
• Fines for violations can range between $60-70, determined by the extent of the incident and any additional implications of the unlawful behaviors.

In order to make best use of these laws that were intentionally set by LPD, students can take many actions to follow them. Setting a time for departure that allows time for any conditions (i.e. long traffic lights, unfair weather) is one of the most effective steps to be taken; another is taking alternative routes from areas that are frequently crossed or can become dangerous easily in those various conditions. Having an understanding of the law and taking the initiative to follow them is helpful, but so is understanding the consequences of violations. Often, misunderstandings and misconceptions prove to take more time and effort than simply following the regulations. It is up to the individual to weigh their options, but by being informed they are able to do so more effectively.