Only a year ago, a city in northeastern Iowa experienced a heartbreak when two high school students were struck by a car in front of dozens of classmates as school let out. Tragically, one passed away.

What is most frustrating about her death is that it could have been prevented. Only after she was killed did the school and the city start working together to reduce the four-lane road to two lanes, slow the speed limit and enforce the use of crosswalks. All these things should have been done years before her death.

With this and other misfortunes of its kind in mind, we would hate to have a similar tragedy act as catalyst for implementing more sidewalks throughout the city — especially in school zones.

Recently, The Ames Tribune published an article about the lack of sidewalks in some areas of Ames and the threat this poses for area pedestrians. According to the article, the reason that Ames has not filled in gaps of the city that are sidewalk-less is that the costs of having a sidewalk fall on the shoulders of the property owners. To make the situation increasingly dangerous, police, due to scheduled shift changes, are rarely present to patrol such areas when the Ames High School lets out in the afternoon.

This seems like a lot of entities not taking responsibility for something that must be done. Ames needs to work with property owners, who in turn should cooperate, to find a way to keep their neighbors from walking home in the streets. For the danger already involved in the lack of sidewalks, a shift change is a poor excuse for police to not be patrolling during this time of day.

We know it’s easy to shirk responsibility — especially when it may come with a hefty price tag. But a responsibility of keeping citizens safe — especially high school students walking home — is one that the city and its citizens should be embarrassed they have not come to agreement on. Perhaps they may consider the cost they’ll have to pay to realize just how important sidewalks are. It’s not just in movies that people get hit by cars — Ames citizens should know that by now.

Now, with winter quickly approaching, pedestrians will be faced with even more challenges due to the lack of sidewalks — snow banks and slippery road conditions, to name a few obvious ones. With this in mind, we’d like to encourage the city, its police and its citizens who have no sidewalks to accomplish something that should have been done years ago.