Cardinal Points

Issue date: 10/19/07 Section: News

Media Credit: Andrei Popovici Vlad A student avoids a possible collision while crossing Broad Street under the overpass. University Police and CVPH Medical Center say pedestrian related accidents are not an ongoing issue.

"Look both ways before you cross the street." Sound familiar?

In New York State, organizations such as the Governor's Traffic Safety Committee and the New York State Partnership for Walk Our Children to School promote pedestrian safety while encouraging people to keep walking.

Promotional materials for the Walk Our Children to School campaign stress the importance of encouraging children to "develop life-long, safe walking habits" as beneficial to both physical health and the creation of "safe and more livable communities."

The organization called for the participation of New York schools in "International Walk to School Day" earlier this month, just weeks after The New York Times reported that fewer than 15 percent of children now walk or ride their bicycles to school - down from 50 percent 40 years ago.

Still, the majority of pedestrian injuries that result in hospitalization state-wide involve individuals between the ages of five and 14, with 22 percent of such injuries proving fatal. This group comprises a rough 60 percent of 4,765 injuries reported over two years.

Thirty percent of these injuries are sustained by individuals between the ages of 15 and 24 - the age category into which most Plattsburgh State students fall.

The position of PSUC's main campus in Plattsburgh's center city - and the many students who regularly cross Rugar and Broad streets to go to class and to their apartments and residence halls - have left some in the community concerned for the safety of student pedestrians.

According to Mike Hildebrand, director of public relations for CVPH Medical Center, pedestrian injuries have not been a problem in Plattsburgh.

"From a hospital standpoint, this is not an ongoing, consistent issue," he said, adding that neither he nor the emergency room staff members he spoke to had any personal recollection of such an injury being treated at the hospital.

The Plattsburgh Police Department was similarly unable to produce records of any pedestrians injured while crossing the street.

Continued...

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