Well, here we go again. Every semester begins with the unavoidable onset of contagious idealism and expectations of the impossible: resolutions to study more or to start bringing a water bottle to class and to cut down on the late-night caffeine.
Even the ASU Police Department gets a case of first-week fuzzies after a summer’s worth of brainstorming to keep the student body on its toes with an ambitious list of increased enforcement to get everyone back into the swing of things.
We’re glad to see ASU Police increase patrols for drunk driving and crack down on underage drinking at the dorms, and we’ll even grant them amnesty for being a tailgating buzzkill come game day Sept. 4.
But the decision to target jaywalkers around campus seems a bit nitpicky. Jaywalking, when executed correctly, is pretty harmless — especially when compared to the other areas of targeted enforcement. And a little impulsive exercise never hurt anyone.
When caught on the small, usually empty streets that run through parts of campus, it’s tough to justify walking to the nearest crosswalk. Maybe if the police issued water bottles or mister fans instead of tickets, people would take those extra steps instead of jaywalking across the road.
With as hot as it is, who won’t take any shortcut they can to get to some air conditioning? And we can’t forget about the officers assigned to stand on the corner who would probably love nothing more than to be out of the sun.
We’re not suggesting anyone play Frogger with oncoming traffic just to get home faster. When caught on University Drive, halfway between that aggravating bridge and the crosswalk at College Avenue, it’s better to stick with those two options than to dart across the street.
Those eight seconds when traffic begins to wane grant no time to think. The fastest math many of us will do is then, as we consider the outcome of cutting three minutes from our journey just by crossing the street right there. It may be impressive, but on a busy road, it’s not worth taking the risk that you may have forgotten to carry the one.
It comes down to just being careful. Use the sound advice you learned in kindergarten: Look both ways before crossing. Muster up all the common sense you can, avoid flying into the street on your longboard, and you should be fine. What we don’t need is eyes watching us, waiting for our feet to hit the asphalt
