Spradling, OSU’s director of parking and transportation, was asked to lead the Pedestrian Safety Task Force in July after the previous head, Joe Weaver, retired. In addition to Spradling, representatives from facilities management, OSU Police and OSU’s Brand Management are part of the task force.
In April, the task force announced a reduction in speed limit to 20 mph on Monroe Street, where the hit-and-run occurred, along with a four-way stop. Since then, the team has surveyed students, faculty and staff to collect data, hired a company to physically survey OSU’s campus and suggest areas of improvement, painted crosswalks and added 37 pedestrian crossing signs between protected crosswalks and intersections.
“One thing I think people should know is we're constantly watching and trying to fix problem areas,” Spradling said. “But this campus is 130 years old, and it's grown a little at a time and pieces. As things change, you find different areas that need to be updated, and it takes time and a lot of money to do those things.”
In August, the task force launched “Pay Attention Pokes,” an initiative to spread public service announcements on bus stops, via emails and OSU’s social media.
Spradling said a campus-wide survey completed this year showed most people believe distraction in traffic is one of the biggest safety issues.
“Probably the largest issue was awareness of watching out for people, either distracted by cellphones or other things,” Spradling said.
He said the task force may explore the options for a mandatory pedestrian safety training video for students to take at the beginning of the school semester. OSU attempted something similar in the past with a mandatory bicycle safety training video, and Spradling said it could be beneficial to bring it back.
The task force will continue to meet and discuss different possibilities to improve campus safety, but Spradling urged OSU students, faculty and staff to continue to seek traffic awareness.
“We've all got to pay attention to the other person,” Spradling said. “They (pedestrians) have to take their safety into their own hands, but the vehicles have to watch out for them, and the pedestrians have to watch the vehicles. We have to all do it, we're all in it together. It's not one particular area that is causing the problem whatsoever, and I take it personally.”