Due to the influx of bicycles on The University of Alabama campus, the Quad has been established as a “pedestrian priority zone” to discourage bikers from riding on sidewalks.
“The idea came from other universities that had implemented the program,” Ronnie Robertson, director of Transportation Services, said. “The program was presented to the Parking and Traffic Committee and assigned to a subcommittee which involved SGA last summer.”
Katie Turgeon, a sophomore majoring in chemistry, said she prefers to ride her bike on campus because she lives behind the Strip, and walking to Shelby Hall for her classes would take too long.
“I have to plan my routes differently, based on where the bike lanes are,” Turgeon said. “At times, riding in bike lanes is scary and seems dangerous being right next to cars, so, when I can, I take the sidewalks if it’s not a busy time in the day.”
Turgeon said she feels there is a pecking order on campus, with pedestrians getting least priority, followed by bikers, with cars and buses being the most dangerous but getting the highest priority.
“Some pedestrians are so involved in their phones or conversations that they don’t even look over and register the fact that a bike or car is coming,” Turgeon said. “Meanwhile, bikers have the responsibility of dodging pedestrians while commanding cars and buses to yield to them.”
Additional bike lanes have been put in place on campus, not in correlation with the pedestrian priority zone. Robertson said most of the bike lanes were already in place or already in the process of being constructed before this program was talked about.
“UA tries to install bike lanes when a roadway is repaved or constructed to assist with the bike traffic on campus,” Robertson said.
Thomas Northcutt, a junior majoring in computer science and psychology, said he tends to worry more about pedestrians than himself when riding his bike on campus.
“I get nervous riding my bike because there are so many people,” Northcutt said. “I feel like I’m going to hit things, so I don’t hit people.”
Northcutt said the amount of pedestrians on campus has an effect on the routes he takes while riding his bike.
“I take longer ways because people aren’t aware of bikers, and they don’t try to move,” Northcutt said.
Jessica Hatfield, a sophomore majoring in nursing, said she chooses to walk because she lives on the Strip.
“It’s every day that I’m dodging bikes,” Hatfield said. “I haven’t noticed a change in the bike traffic on the Quad since the ‘pedestrian priority zone’ was added.”
Most accidents between pedestrians and bikes are not reported, so Transportation Services does not keep statistics on these accidents.
“We feel the few accidents that are reported do not give an accurate reflection on the number of accidents that occur on pedestrian sidewalks,” Robertson said.
