The Undergraduate Student Government is spearheading a campaign this fall that encourages students to get off their bikes, skateboards and scooters and walk to class instead.
The “Walk Your Wheels” pedestrian safety campaign is a response to numerous complaints by students to the ASU administration about collisions involving bikes and skateboards on Tempe campus walkways.
Accounting junior Andrea Tidrow stopped riding her bike on campus.
“I was afraid I would run into someone, or they would run into me,” Tidrow said. “It’s very crowded.”
Members of ASU administration first proposed an initiative in February to completely ban bikes and skateboards on the Tempe campus.
“It was pretty obvious that no one has any sense of direction on campus,” USG President Jacob Goulding said.
After preliminary talks, the administration decided to work with USG and Parking and Transit Services to begin a safety campaign that would include signs around the University encouraging students to walk their bikes and skateboards in high-traffic areas.
“We didn’t want to ban any bikes or ban any skateboards from campus. We didn’t think that was fair,” Goulding said. “But we did move toward the idea of creating and building a culture where students, when they’re in a crowd, will simply understand that it’s probably the best time to either get off their skateboard and walk it or get off [their] bike and walk [their] bike.”
Signs encouraging students to “Walk Your Wheels” will be going up around campus within the first few weeks of the fall semester.
The campaign will be an ongoing program throughout the semester. Goulding said USG is planning an event on campus but details are still to be decided. Information about the campaign can be found at walk.asu.edu.
ASU Police Cmdr. Jim Hardina said there are no plans to enforce “Walk Your Wheels.”
Advocates of the “Walk Your Wheels” campaign, including Alex Davis, project developer at the University Sustainability Practice office, want to educate students using positive enforcement rather than punishment.
“We want to very strongly make a partnership between student government and the administration in a positive solution,” Davis said.
Landscape architecture freshman and biker Will Glaeser said it would take him a longer time to reach his classes if foot traffic increases.
“I don’t think it’s a good idea,” Glaeser said. “The faster people get to their places, the faster that they’re out of the sidewalks.”
Advocates of the campaign do not foresee an increase in traffic if more students are encouraged to walk through campus.
“It would make it safer; it would be the same amount of traffic,” Tidrow said. “You don’t have to worry about getting run over by anyone.”
Davis said the traffic would most likely work itself out around campus as the semester goes on, but encourages students to find new routes to take to class.
“I don’t think people will listen to that,” Glaeser said. “I don’t think you’re going to be able to convince people to take the long way to get to somewhere.”
