Our plan is to come up with an innovative solution to the Owen jaywalking problem. Owen Students walk back and forth to Starbucks (and other area establishments) without using the crosswalks on 21st Ave. We realize that the jaywalking issue extends beyond Owen and Starbucks. However, we believe that focusing on a specific clientele will allow us to monitor the impact of our solution. Even though they may not appreciate (or realize they appreciate) our efforts, we have identified our client as the Owen students who drink coffee and visit the Starbucks on 21st Avenue because we believe we can serve them by encouraging safer street crossing behavior. If we can change patterns, several other groups will benefit as well: First, Vanderbilt’s Traffic and Parking, as well as the Nashville police, who patrol campus and the surrounding areas and enforce jaywalking laws; Second, the drivers of Nashville, specifically those who use 21st Ave. because we are lessening the potential for accidents with jaywalkers and “fender benders” with other drivers who are stopping to allow jaywalkers.
In order to gauge the acceptance our solution we will monitor the behavior of our “clients” to see if they have changed their habits with regards to getting from school to Starbucks and back.
3 Final Ideas:
We will create the Owen Undercover Jaywalking Patrol consisting of 10 members from the Owen community who will participate in a campaign to socially ostracize people caught or seen jaywalking and reward others seen adhering to crosswalk rules. We will utilize Owen Daily News to give embarrassing accounts of those caught jaywalking and notes of praise for those seen obeying jaywalking laws.
We will create a fence along the parking lot to deter people from walking through the trees which, currently is how the majority of Owen students cross the street to get to Starbucks. This fence can be made of wood, barbwire, police tape, etc.
We can plant shrubs in the open area between the trees in order to make it more difficult to jaywalking through trees to Starbucks.
Bear traps are fairly cheap these days. It would only take one...
ReplyDeleteI really like the idea of putting up a fence or shrubbery to block the little cut through that makes it easier for people to jaywalk. If people can't cut through, they will be forced to either intersections crosswalks. If you force them towards the crosswalks, the students will use them.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I love the idea of cruel posts on ODN, I am not sure it will really stop the behavior. I think a physical barrier might be your only option. On the other hand, I can imagine several angry caffine deprived Owen students being more than slightly upset the first time they witness "THE FENCE".
ReplyDeleteThe concern I have about your ideas is that the latter 2 will be difficult to get done within the time constraints of this project. Who will pay for the shrubs or fence? This is a great solution if you have a budget to work with. The jaywalk patrol does not seem to be a feasible long-term solution, however, it may be executable for a short time period. This will have to be pretty high profile if you want it to have a significant impact on Owen student behavior. Will you be taking pictures of people jaywalking to increase the "shame" factor?
ReplyDeleteThe idea about the fence is good! Maybe you could use the ODN to announce how much/little time you save on jaywalking before you put up the fence.
ReplyDeleteGo for the shrubs. I don't think we need any more fences in this world, but shrubs are just as effective if you choose a particularly lush thickett. Don't have a secret swat team to enforce this...we don't want to resort to gestapo tactics. =)
ReplyDeleteI love your ideas and suggestions. Fencing along the parking lot is the simplest and easiest way. For idea #1, I like the idea of putting jaywalk thing on Owen-daily, but student patrol seems to be a bit time and resource consuming. In addition, how about attatching a warning sign to the Starbuck's main door.
ReplyDeleteit would take more than an ODN posting to stop me from jaywalking. the shrubs would work, although who would buy them and maintain them? if you could get it approved, i think that would be the best deterrent with the least backlash.
ReplyDeleteIt's very interesting issues. A similar case with this happened in my university in Korea, and our students' request was accepted. Now there is a crosswalk and the traffic accident decreased very much. Many students agree to construct a fence, but I don't. I think the Owen Undercover Jaywalking Patrol is more desirable.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, shrubbery is the way to go. As far as #1 goes, I don't know about you guys (with the exception of Mod IV second years), but I definitely don't have the time, nor would I want to stand around outside patrolling jaywalkers. Personal commitment from student patrollers might be a constraint.
ReplyDeleteThe jay walking patrol might work to deter some jaywalking if you put a few obnoxious people out by the street with a megaphone to completely embarrass and harass all of the jaywalkers.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the shrubs would be the best of the other two options given that it would be more asthetically pleasing...however, again, you have to have the dough to get it done and it will take a while for smaller shrubs to grow large enough. I do not think it would take too much work to get a few 2nd years to sit out on the sidewalk in lawn chairs with a megaphone. In fact, I'd be surprised if there are not some 2nd years already doing this. We all know that not too many are hitting the books lately.
These are great ideas! I also have another one for you to play with-- set a webcam on top of the building pointing to that area and have the patrol review (and publish) tapes of jay walkers. (or even just have it available on a webpage on the intranet). If people know they are likely to be seen doing it, they are less likely to do it.
ReplyDeleteOr simply add it to the honor code as a violation.
My understanding is that the IT folks are under strict orders from their superiors to not jaywalk. It is more healthy to walk and will cost the school a whole lot of money if someone gets hit. So there is a pretty good economic argument to be made, too.
Many people probably don't realize it is a problem. So reminding people twice a year might reduce the problem to a negligible level, too.
I think this is a tough problem to tackle, and education might be a better way than anything else.
ReplyDeleteI think the OSGA and Marketing Department wont let humiliating messages to be posted on ODN. And I personally wont care... because most people don't think it is a problem. I would personally stay away from ODN, there are enough issues with enormous fonts and pictures that are going to get addressed, this might get axed easily as the argument would be that ODN is not the forum for this.
I think the shrubbery is a great idea. If there was stuff in the way, especially pricky ones, I would not go down that path. I dont know about the fence, that might be a little in your face - but I guess that's the message we want to send.
Great project, nice ideas. Good Luck!
the biggest constraint to adoption you are likely to have is getting people to agree with you that jay-walking is actually a problem. Most of my time-crunched classmates would agree that jay-walking is a necesary way to circumvent the inefficiencies of a government run process and move resources more quickly to their higher use (ie starbucks). Educating people on the problems, risks, and dangers of jaywalking will probably do just as much to curb the problem as enforcement.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Bob. Can we see some evidence that it actually is a problem? Pedestrian accidents? I would say that maybe the damage done to the grass between the Owen Lot and 21st street is an issue, however, a better solution may be a more formal path. As an avid jay, solution 1 would provide little more than a chuckle. Solution 2 would be effective and Solution 3 would likely put the lives of innocent shrubs in grave danger.
ReplyDelete