Something must be done about the crosswalk across Ocoee St in front of Medlin Hall. In light of the recent incident in which the freshman Evan Neel was seriously injured after being hit while walking across the road, it seems that the long-time dangerous path needs a form of renovation. Ocoee street, at the center of Cleveland, is a notably busy and fast-moving street. Over the years, several accidents have happened on this particular crosswalk including the death of the 20-year-old student Philip Beale in 1995 (https://archive.org/details/vindagua1995leeu/page/302/mode/2up?view=theater ). 15 years after that death, an effort was finally made to make the crosswalk safer. This is when the sensor-triggered lights were installed. Although, I am confident that this method of safety was superior to the previous one, it is clearly not substantial enough. This is most evident in the recent occurrence. The lights were confirmed to be working when Evan was hit, and regardless of their presence tragedy still struck. It seems that they didn't catch the attention of the driver when they needed to, and they were clearly not enough to slow the driver. As a result, the safety mechanism failed Evan like it did for Philip and, if not changed, will continue to fail other students.

Thus, those in support of this petition request that the Tennessee Department of Transportation and Cleveland City Council, in collaboration with Lee University and Campus Security, make a change. To me there are 3 possible scenarios for change:

1) Make a tunnel or an overhead walking bridge. In the Spring 2010 Torch Magazine, regarding the project to add sensors to the crosswalk, Campus Security made the following statement: “The only other alternatives to make crossing the street safer for our students are to dig a tunnel or build a pedestrian overpass, but both of those would be impractical and costly and there would be no guarantee students would use them”. ( https://www.leeuniversity.edu/wp-content/uploads/Spring-2010.pdf ) Would that "cost" be too high to balance the cost of losing the life of another student? Absolutely not. Additionally, speaking as a former Medlin resident who has almost been hit by a car on multiple occasions WE WOULD USE IT.  Practicality should not be a significant part of the question when the lives of students are on the line. 

2) Add a traffic light at the corner of 14th and Ocoee. This would force cars to stop and would give better guidance to both pedestrians and drivers on when they can go. Or, if not a traffic light, a slow speed zone could be indicated by overhead blinking yellow lights like those before Ocoee Middle School.

3) Add speed bumps to the road before the actual crosswalk in order to slow drivers. Also, the actual crosswalk could be elevated like those on Parker/Paul Conn St. Even with as many lights as the crosswalk has, it is still evident that they were not noticed. If no other precautions are added, a method of slowing cars should be adopted. This way, even if a driver does not notice the flashing lights, they will not being at a fatally fast speed.

I am no expert on city planning, and I don't know which option is the cheapest. However, I do know the options that would best protect our students. Options that could have saved the life of Philip Beale. And those options are not going to be very cheap or practical, but at the end of the day we don't want cheap ways to protect expensive lives.

In memory of Philip Beale 1974-1995