Parking garages hazardous

Most traffic accidents on the Kansas University campus occur in one of the parking garages or lots, while one of the most accident-free places on campus is the heavily traveled Jayhawk Boulevard, officials say.

That’s because garages and lots offer limited maneuverability, while most people walking, biking, driving or getting off a bus on Jayhawk Boulevard are on heightened alert.

“One advantage is that people are probably more cautious on Jayhawk Boulevard,” said John Mullens, assistant director of the KU Public Safety Office. “We have little or no traffic accidents there during the daytime.”

There are an average of about 300 to 320 traffic accidents per year on KU’s campus, and half of them or more occur in garages and lots, he said.

Most of the accidents are fender-benders, he said, where a driver sideswipes another vehicle when trying to get in or out of a parking spot, or when one vehicle is backing up and gets rear-ended by someone moving through the driving lane.

Mullens said whether a person is on campus walking, riding a bicycle or driving a car, there are some simple rules to follow.

“You have to be conscious of your surroundings, paying attention to what is going on around you, and not take any chances,” he said. “I’ve actually seen people while walking also talking on cell phones, trying to read a book, and they run into a stop sign. It’s a good thing the stop sign was there or they may have walked right into traffic.”

Bicyclists are expected to follow the same traffic laws that apply to motor vehicles, and pedestrians, he said, don’t always have the right of way.

Mullens said one problem students have is that they believe vehicles off-campus will yield to them the same as if they were walking on Jayhawk Boulevard  where traffic traditionally yields to crossing pedestrians.

“Eight or nine times a year, we have car-pedestrian accidents on Kentucky and Tennessee between Ninth and 17th streets where students walk out between parked cars, like they do in front of Strong Hall,” he said. “The average motorist on Tennessee does not expect a jaywalker.”