Written by: Lucy Ashworth
Have you ever noticed the continuous daily mass of people gathered outside the college? I can guarantee that people walking or driving past have. It is quite hard to miss the hordes of Priestley students hanging around the college entrance every day.
Many students have taken to congregating at the gateway to the college. This makes walking on either side of the pavement incredibly difficult to do without being forced to step onto the road to get past. More times than I can count, I’ve seen students resort to walking on the road, when there are cars approaching, simply because they can’t get past the volume of people on the pavement. Simply put, this is dangerous. Some students don’t even look to make sure that it is safe to walk onto the road. They just step out regardless, oblivious to the cars coming up behind them.
I’ve also seen students who manage to walk on the pavement, being pushed onto the road from the sheer movement of people. This is an accident waiting to happen.
Regardless of the less than 10mph speed limit, if a collision was to happen, it would, at best, ruin someone’s day. Visibility is very important for students as well as drivers entering or exiting the college grounds. Whether you are walking or in a car, you should always be aware of your surroundings and make sure you aren’t an obstruction or a danger to anyone else.
So is there a solution to this problem?
Could we make the campus a pedestrian only area? No, not really. That would not only inconvenience the students but the staff as well due to many of these people having cars in order to get to college and work and need a place to park. If the college was a pedestrian only site then people would be forced to park in nearby streets and that would also upset the local community. If everyone started parking in the surrounding residential areas, there would be nowhere for the residents to park.
Could the entrance to the college be monitored by a member of staff? No, that is unrealistic and wouldn’t be cost effective. Staff members are there to teach and shouldn’t be expected to watch students outside the college boundary in order to make sure that they are safely getting in and out of college. This is definitely something that you wouldn’t expect a member of staff to have to do at a college full of people age 16 and older.
Could a barrier be put up across the entrance to college to monitor the amount of traffic going in and out and to control the speed and volume of traffic along the drive? No, this idea will not work because it would cause a backup of traffic on Loushers Lane as people wait for the barrier to rise. It would also cause congestion on college grounds and the backlog of cars waiting to get out at peak times would be immense. It’s already bad enough waiting for cars to turn right onto Loushers Lane when the bus is dropping off students as it blocks the flow of traffic.
Sadly it begs the question, should we ban students from standing outside of the gate?
Some students standing outside of the college gate are stood there because they aren’t allowed to vape or smoke on campus. To reduce the amount of people stood on the pavement during peak times, there could be an area on campus for people who smoke and vape. Maybe towards the back of the college, away from the entrance and also far away from classrooms or any student that may be against the idea of walking through clouds of smoke or vape on a daily basis.
Another idea would be to instigate a college policy to say no loitering in that area at any time during college hours; a college rule that students must follow and therefore must be enforced by Priestley College.
Whatever the solution turns out to be, something needs doing urgently because ‘this is an accident waiting to happen’.
