Heads Up! Pedestrian Safety at USC
by Ela Rybak ‘25
Getting around campus can frequently feel overwhelming with people walking and riding bikes, scooters, and skateboards. Last Wednesday, September 13th, USC Safety and DPS held an event to promote pedestrian, bicycle, scooter, and skateboard safety in which bike bells were given out after completing a short quiz. Here are some easy tips from Wednesday’s USC Safety event if you weren’t able to make it for everyone to feel safer while getting around campus.
Tip 1: Avoid Listening to Music When Operating a Bike or Scooter
Paying attention to your surroundings when listening to music in your earbuds can be extra challenging. Although riding a bike may come as second nature to you, music or even trying to FaceTime someone while riding a bike is extremely dangerous to yourself and everyone else on campus.
Tip 2: Stay In or Out of the Bike Lane
If you are riding a bike, scooter, or skateboard, you should be in the bike lane on campus. Fortunately, many parts of campus offer a bike lane to keep students from accidentally crashing into those who choose to walk. On the other hand, if you decide to walk around campus, you should try your best to stay out of the bike lane. Although this may seem obvious, I see students breaking this rule multiple times a day, and I have even personally witnessed it turn into an accident. Thankfully, neither the biker nor the walker was injured, but it could have been much worse.
Tip 3: Wear a Helmet
Lastly, try to wear a helmet. There is this view that wearing a helmet does not look “cool,” but you will not care about it being uncool when it helps save you from a severe injury. You should especially wear a helmet when traveling outside campus because the possibility of an accident nearly triples.
By simply respecting your peers and paying attention to your surroundings while moving around campus and surrounding areas, you can help prevent accidents. Fight on and be safe!
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