Casey_Saxton_Original

Students afraid of colliding with mirrors on buses

Casey_Saxton_Original

BY CASEY SAXTON

A friend of mine tweeted the following last week:

“Fav if your life has been threatened by the mirrors on the busses that whip around the circle by the TSC.”

I couldn’t help but laugh as I read it because it’s completely true. It was said in a funny way and students who’ve ever ridden the Aggie Shuttle and gotten on near the TSC have probably had a similar thought when busses begin to turn around the loop before they stop. The mirrors have come disturbingly close to hitting me before, so I can really relate.

I’m sure bus drivers don’t intentionally come so close to pedestrians on the sidewalk and I’m also sure those on the sidewalk waiting for the bus aren’t thinking about how close they are standing to the bus loop. A little more attentiveness on both parts would go a long way to avoid any potentially accidents.

With that said, I think it would be an excellent idea to have a painted line on the sidewalk, which those waiting for the bus are encouraged to stand behind. I suspect even just having a line there without any instructions would cause most bus riders to stand behind it as they wait. To my knowledge, no line currently exists at the location.

The painted line would certainly be worth the cost, even if that cost was simply for precautionary purposes. If that line is the reason an accident is avoided in the future, I think it would be well worth the cost and effort. I will pass on my suggestion to the Parking and Transportation Department and see what they think about the idea and what would need to occur to make it happen. I’ll report back in my column what happens.

To those of you who’ve sent comments about my columns via email or Twitter, keep it up. I enjoy getting feedback from you. If you have an issue you’d like me to explore in a column in the future or just a question you’d like me to ask, please send your thoughts my way. If you would ever like to write a response to any of my columns, a letter to the editor would be an excellent avenue to do that.

— Casey Saxton, a senior majoring in business administration and marketing, serves as the student advocate vice president for the USU Student Association. He can be reached in TSC 340, by email at studentadvocate@usu.edu or on Twitter at @AggieAdvocate.