Senior English and criminology and criminal justice major
If you’ve been anywhere near Route 1 in the past two weeks, you would have noticed the myriad of new traffic laws. Maybe you got stopped during the Sept. 5 sobriety checkpoint, or maybe you heard about a $25 fine for jaywalking. But as Route 1 traffic laws become more and more complicated, you might also start to wonder: What’s the point?
The recent pedestrian-driver collisions warrant a serious look at the threats facing pedestrians around Route 1. The drastic increase in collisions over the past months does signify that there are problems, particularly near the intersection of Route 1 and Knox Road, with drunk drivers and drunkem pedestrians. But do median fences, photo-enforced speed limits, jaywalking fines and sobriety checkpoints really get at the crux of the problem? I don’t think so.
When the bouncers deem someone too intoxicated to be allowed to stay at the bar, they demand that person leaves. Rightfully so; someone who has had too much to drink should go home. However, when the aforementioned drunk person is kicked out of the bar, there is no one there to help him or her get home safely.
Now there is a person who is way too intoxicated to be at a bar schlepping around the parking garage, looking for his car, possibly preparing to drive home drunk because that seems to be his or her only way home. Conversely, the same overly intoxicated person could be schlepping around the intersection of Route 1 and Knox Road, trying to find his or her way home.
I do think a photo-enforced 25 mph speeding limit is generally a good idea around Route 1; no one should be speeding there at any time of the day with that many pedestrians around.
I do think that posting sobriety checkpoints around Route 1 would help catch drunk drivers passing through those pedestrian-heavy areas. But a lot of the reactive regulations could be avoided if a proactive solution were to be brought forth. When an overly intoxicated person roams the streets, the last thing on his or her mind is the jaywalking fine or where the median ends.
I purport that it would be more efficient to direct overly intoxicated people to their intended destinations than to put up medians to herd the drunken people stumbling around the street. Solve the problem before it happens.
I recognize this is a difficult undertaking and that there would never be enough resources to escort every bar patron to his or her home, but local authorities should really consider a more effective and safe method of removing overly intoxicated people from the bar and getting them off the streets. The crux of the problem is drunken people hobbling out of the bar and right onto the street. The location of the bars on Route 1 is both a blessing and a curse.
Margaret Zelenski is a senior English and criminology and criminal justice major. She can be reached at mzelenskidbk@gmail.com.
