By RaShayla Daniels
Hundreds of Texas Tech University students drove recklessly on campus last year, but statistics reveal they may be better drivers than students at a conference rival, The University of Texas at Austin.
Captain Stephen Hinkle of the Texas Tech Police Department said there were around 230 reported car accidents and five bicycling accidents on campus in the past year. UT Austin students had around 85 collisions per month last year, or about 1,000 for the year, according to a report from the UT Austin police department.
During that time, Texas Tech reported a student enrollment of about 33,000, while UT Austin had a student enrollment of about 52,000. Thus, Texas Tech had an accident rate of about 7 per 1,000 students, while UT Austin had a rate of about 19 per 1,000 students.
He said depending on where the accident occurs, cameras on a nearby building may pick up footage as close as the license plates on vehicles, but students report most incidents.
Often times, Hinkle said, students leave notes on cars they witness being hit with license plate numbers or vehicle descriptions in them. He said this helps the campus police a lot in these cases and makes their job easier.
Brittany Bagwell, a senior electronic media and communications major at Tech, said she does not usually see the police on campus, but lately she has noticed them a lot more.
Bagwell, who is originally from Whitesboro, Texas, said she understands the many hit-and-run accidents taking place in parking lots on campus because sometimes there are too many people in the lots.
Picture by RaShayla Daniels.
“On Fridays, there are not many issues because nobody ever comes to class, but sometimes it’s hard to find a parking place.”
However, she said she has never witnessed any fender benders in the lots.
Bagwell said she thinks the numbers on the UT Austin campus are a lot higher than Texas Tech’s because of the location. She said the UT Austin campus is really small and has many trees, which could make it hard to see around corners.
“Our campus is really laid out and spread apart,” Bagwell said, “so I think that, and we’re not allowed to drive on campus. Their campus is like interspersed within the city streets, so there’s people driving to work through the campus.”
She said she is not sure why there are so many accidents on Tech’s campus because students are not allowed to drive in most places, but she said she feels a lot of it has to do with those who are not supposed to be driving on campus and are trying not to get caught, as well as bike riders, though the number Captain Hinkle reported was small.
“(Bicycle riders are) awful,” Bagwell said. “They will run out in front of anybody and run over anybody.”
Bagwell said another factor is how people use cellphones while driving because it can be distracting and highly problematic for college drivers. Though even she is guilty of it, she said, it is a problem that must be taken more seriously.
Picture by Arturo Mora.
Captain Hinkle said moving-traffic violations are a concern as well on the Tech campus.
He said Tech officers mainly pull students over and issue citations for reasons such as failure to stop at a stop sign, expired tags or registration, and speeding.
The TTPD police captain said many officers are lenient with those who voluntarily comply or who are first-time traffic offenders.
Electronic media and communications major Bagwell said she agreed Tech police officers are more benign; however, she said, she has seen more officers cracking down on students on campus lately.
“One time, like the first day I was living here,” Bagwell said, “one of my friends who lives here was showing us around the campus and stuff, and he didn’t put his blinker on. It was the middle of the night, no one was around, and he pulled us over.”
Bagwell said the officer didn’t give them a ticket and sent them on their way.
Hinkle said those whom are issued a citation are subject to appear in court, where the students are either fined according to the offense or may plea not guilty and seek further action by a judge.
He said 18th St. and Flint Avenue are the streets where most speeders are caught because they are long stretches, and it is easy to drift 10 to 15 mph over the speed limit without realizing it.
Though the speed limit is generally 20 mph throughout campus, 30 mph on some streets and 10 mph in the parking lots, he said, students need to be more aware and slow down.
Though he understands students have places to be, Hinkle said, in order to ensure the safety of everyone — whether they are pedestrians, bikers, buses or vehicles — drivers need to be more careful and pay more attention to the signs around campus.
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