Montevallo must make crossings safer

Published 2:05 pm Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Dear Editor,

As a student at the University of Montevallo and a Regions bank customer, I often find myself walking from campus to the Regions located across the main street from campus.

It has come to my attention that it is hard to see oncoming traffic when trying to cross the street due to the parking along the side of the road, and since Montevallo is a college town, there are reckless college-age drivers who may or may not follow the laws of driving.

The combination of these factors makes me feel uncomfortable crossing over to my bank. Other student pedestrians and Montevallo citizens are crossing the same street to get to CVS pharmacy and McDonald’s, making this a heavily crossed street not only by students but by local families as well.

I believe that this is a dangerous problem. It is highly likely that in the future someone could be hit by an automobile resulting in injury or death.

Some people may claim that no one has been hit yet and that the city should not spend money on a “non-issue.” Should we wait until it is an issue? I believe the city of Montevallo is proactive and ahead of the times, but not in the case of the crosswalks along Main Street.

Luckily, I believe this problem has a simple solution. To ensure the safety of locals as well as University students, the city should place cross walk signals instructing people when to cross.

Crosswalk signals that also count down to when it will be unsafe to walk are now available, for our safety, to further determine if you have enough time to safely cross.

I believe this would be beneficial to the City of Montevallo. I believe most city officials would agree that the costs of the signals are agreeable compared to those of a lawsuit due to a fatality.

Molly Hall

Trussville