According to Lt. John Brockie of the University Police, the majority of collisions on campus occur when parked cars are hit in campus lots. He noted that the causes of most accidents in parking lots are when drivers are backing up and turning unsafely.
April Diaz, 24, a business major, points out there is a slight feeling of danger in the parking structures.
“It feels like people don’t necessarily obey traffic laws. There is also a lot of speeding as well as tight turns,” said Diaz.
According to Diaz, there are security issues in the parking structure. “What makes it dangerous is that there isn’t really a lot of surveillance,” she said.
Of the 71 traffic accidents on campus from 2008 through 2009, there were 34 hit-and-runs reported. In 2010, 41 hit-and-runs were reported out of 113 accidents on campus.
Brockie attributed the high rate of hit-and-runs to many accidents that happen at slow speeds with minor damage, and students may not know what to do when they hit a parked car. Brockie said most cases are solved because there are a lot of cars in the parking structures.
“The majority of the time it’s a witness that sees it and leaves the information,” said Brockie.
Brockie said there are procedural efforts in the department aimed toward reducing accidents.
“We give warnings to people as well as citations. If we notice an intersection where people aren’t stopping at a stop sign, then we will direct our patrol resources to watch that area and watch that stop sign,” Brockie said.
Sgt. Andrew Goodrich of the Fullerton Police Department attributes a high volume of pedestrian traffic around CSUF to a higher potential for traffic accidents.
Erik Hayes, 25, is an MBA student at CSUF. He commonly crosses Nutwood Avenue to purchase food at the restaurants located across the street from College Park.
“When I was here for my undergrad there was a diagonal crosswalk (on the corner of Nutwood and Commonwealth Avenues). It isn’t there anymore,” he said.
Hayes said he has never witnessed an accident at that intersection. Hayes noted the intersection has always been busy and sometimes pedestrians and drivers are both in a hurry to travel through.
Ryan Monsour, 26, an entertainment and tourism major, said the heavy volume of traffic on Nutwood Avenue may be attributed to the fact that the Eastside and Nutwood Parking Structures are located on both ends of the street.
“The unprotected one is a little more dangerous,” said Monsour, in reference to the intersection on the crosswalk of Langsdorf Drive and Nutwood Avenue. The intersection connects College Park to several restaurants across the street like the Habit, where students sometimes dine.
“There is no light on the crosswalk but, thankfully, it is a short distance,” Monsour said.
Although some students on campus feel there is a danger of being injured in traffic accidents on campus, there are relatively few injuries resulting from collisions. Campus Crime Statistics for the year of 2010 indicate there was a total of 67 accidents on campus, five of which involved minor injuries. From Oct. 20, 2010 through Oct. 20 of this year, there was only one minor injury reported and it was located on the CSUF Irvine Campus.
