“There were 492 reported traffic accidents on campus between Aug. 1, 2013 and May 31, 2014,” Cathy Andreen, director of media relations, said.
Andreen said the majority of crashes occurred in parking lots and were not life-threatening.
“Over 50 percent of the 492 accidents were in a parking lot or some type of parking area,” Andreen said. “A small percentage of the accidents resulted in injury. However, there were no deaths.”
Students who choose not to drive a car aren’t exactly free from an accident, either.
“There were occasional wrecks involving UA vehicles and First Transit buses,” Andreen said.
Parker LaFont, a sophomore majoring in telecommunication and film and computer science, was involved in a Crimson Ride bus crash last year.
“Last year I was riding my bus on the way to class and while the bus was making a turn, it just ran straight into a car. It was over by Publix on the gold route,” LaFont said.
Andreen said wrecks involving official UA vehicles only happen occasionally, but the average emergency response time rivals other police departments around the country at about 6 minutes or less. Even with a quick response time, students think more should be done to prevent future crashes.
“Almost 500 car accidents does seem like a lot me,” Kyle Rose, a senior majoring in criminal justice, said. “The response time seems pretty quick, so that’s good. I think if they added more parking spots, drivers won’t have to drive around looking for other spots and that could maybe bring down the number of crashes.”
Kaitlyn Smith, a sophomore majoring in business, said she was involved in one of the 492 reported accidents.
“My car was in the Tutwiler parking lot near the back entrance. I was about to go to the grocery store, but when I walked up on my car someone had completely rear-ended my SUV,” Smith said.“The whole back of my SUV was ruined and I had over $2,500 dollars worth of damage. I was not injured, but I was irate. However, by the looks of the damages, the other person who hit me must have been shaken up. They didn’t even leave a note.”
UAPD has information on its website regarding crashes. This includes information regarding leaving the scene of an accident, common traffic offenses on campus, fines imposed and accident avoidance. To learn more, visit police.ua.edu.
