UM Student Dies
December 6, 2010 Leave a comment
There are two factors at play.
First, drivers in Coral Gables and Miami do not respect pedestrians. In many other cities, a pedestrian in a walkway means STOP. When you are driving it is your responsibility to watch out for the pedestrian. For example, there is a flashing activated by pedestrians on Ponce de Leon in front of a series of doctors’ offices that drivers simple do not respect by slowing down or stopping.
Let’s face it, Miami is more like Santo Domingo than it is like Washington, DC.
Second, UM and other students walk around with their heads buried in their iphones and blackberries with total disregard for the traffic around them. In fact, on the UM campus students just cross in front of you assuming that traffic will stop. Many times a student has wondered in front of my car while talking or texting without lifting their eyes.
You will not change the drivers in Miami; UM better reeducate their students, staff and faculty. (And this is not a judgement on what may or may not have happened in the two recent sad and unfortunate deaths of UM students.)
University of Miami sophomore was killed early Sunday after being hit by a car near the Coral Gables campus, marking the second student within weeks to die from a crash.
via Crash claims life of another UM student – Miami-Dade – MiamiHerald.com.
About Stephen E. McGaughey
Coral Gables Watch 