The roads on Â鶹ӳ»´«Ã½’s campus and the area around the university are packed with cars, bicycles, skateboards and pedestrians. That can be a dangerous mix, so it’s important to know what you can do to keep yourself safe \u2014 and what Â鶹ӳ»´«Ã½ is doing to help.<\/p>\n
It’s the responsibility of both drivers and pedestrians to pay attention to what’s around them and follow the rules of the road. Drivers should yield to pedestrians even when drivers have a green light. Pedestrians also are responsible for following traffic signals and rules. Pedestrians should always use a crosswalk and look both ways before crossing the street, even when they have the right of way. It’s important to remember that distractions like cell phones and headphones can be dangerous for pedestrians, too.<\/p>\n
“Drivers, pedestrians, bicyclists and skateboarders all share Â鶹ӳ»´«Ã½’s campus,” Â鶹ӳ»´«Ã½ Police Chief Carl Metzger ’03MS<\/strong> says. “Let’s keep Â鶹ӳ»´«Ã½ safe for everyone by obeying the rules of the road.”<\/p>\n The Â鶹ӳ»´«Ã½ Police Department also has invested in pedestrian safety improvements on campus. In January, the university added \u201cSTOP for Pedestrian in Crosswalk\u201d signage at five locations across campus. In addition, five crosswalks have been upgraded with flashing yellow lights. Â鶹ӳ»´«Ã½ police also have been citing drivers who fail to yield to pedestrians.<\/p>\n Â鶹ӳ»´«Ã½ is also focused on keeping students safe on the busy roads in the area. The university has partnered with Orange County and the Florida Department of Transportation to fund the construction of improvements to safeguard pedestrians and bicyclists on and near campus.<\/p>\n This project began with a study led by Orange County to determine what improvements would be most effective. A pedestrian bridge at the intersection of Alafaya Trail and University Boulevard was studied but ultimately ruled out by county traffic engineers. That\u2019s because crash data shows that these accidents occur over a very wide area covering 4.6 miles, from Challenger Parkway to McCulloch Road on Alafaya Trail; from Rouse Road to Alafaya Trail on University Boulevard; and from Alafaya Trail to North Orion Boulevard on McCulloch Road. Traffic engineers concluded that pedestrians and bicyclists would not travel very far to use a bridge.<\/p>\n Instead, the county and state (which control these roads) are building a variety of improvements costing $8.8 million, including about $2.9 million from Â鶹ӳ»´«Ã½. These upgrades are now being designed and construction should begin in early 2020:<\/p>\n In addition, some additional interim improvements were recently added, including:<\/p>\n Safety is our priority, and we believe these improvements will make it safer for our students and others.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Â鶹ӳ»´«Ã½ Police has invested in pedestrian safety improvements on campus.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":100775,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"lazy_load_responsive_images_disabled":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":"","_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[5,27],"tags":[18055,4114,4911],"tu_author":[],"class_list":["post-100523","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colleges","category-student-life","tag-resources","tag-safety","tag-ucf-police-department"],"yoast_head":"\n\n
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