Just the other day, as I was standing outside Pearson hall talking to a classmate, I was nearly knocked off my feet by a bicyclist who barely took the time to stop and see if I was OK, and a recent traffic accident involving a bicycle and a motorcycle proves that the walkways of central campus aren’t the only places where bicyclists think they own the road. Once a long time ago, we were all taught to stop and look both ways to make sure there was no traffic coming before we crossed the street. We were warned to cross only at crosswalks and that bicycles needed to ride with the flow of traffic, toward the right side of the street. Yet, somewhere along the way, many of the bicyclists, and pedestrians, that I see on campus have forgotten those simple safety rules. Every day I see stupid pedestrians cross the street in front of fast moving cars and buses. Often they enter the road from between parked cars or other blind spots. Bicyclists weave in and out of traffic as if the laws regarding safe use of the roadways don’t apply to them, and often they can be found zooming through congested crowds of people on the sidewalks and walkways of campus. But, how can we curb the problem of unsafe bicycling practices on campus? Perhaps bicycles should be banned from the walkways of central campus, and DPS could be allowed to ticket any bicyclists riding there. Better yet, why not allow the CyRide drivers to simply run over any stupid bicyclists or pedestrians that get in the way of the buses? Maybe if some of the elements of natural selection were reinstituted in society there would be fewer morons passing along their genetic material, and the world would be a better place for everyone. Kate Johnson

Junior

Performing arts