Safety tips for pedestrians on campus

This is part of a series of articles discussing safety and security for the Purdue West Lafayette campus.

Be extra cautious when it is raining and when it is dark if you are wearing dark-colored clothing. Under these conditions, your visibility to the driver is diminished significantly. Avoid wearing only dark colors in such conditions. This is especially important as winter approaches and daylight hours become shorter.

Remove your iPod ear buds and maintain visual contact with vehicle traffic around you. Your safety can be significantly impaired if you inhibit any one of your senses while you are walking near vehicle traffic.

Do not use your cellphone or text while you are walking near traffic. Being inattentive can prove to be very hazardous.

Obey traffic signs and cross at properly marked crosswalks. That is what drivers expect you to do, and that is where you may be more visible to them.

When you begin to cross the street at crosswalks, do not assume vehicles in the second lane are aware you are in the crosswalk. Proceed carefully and make sure all lanes of traffic are stopping as you proceed.

When waiting to cross a street, stand behind the curb, not on it.

Look both ways and make sure you have eye contact with drivers before you cross the street. Never assume that if you turn your back to a vehicle, the driver will see you and yield to your position in the street.

Do not step into traffic at a crosswalk and create a hazard.

Do not leave the sidewalk in favor of the street when the walkway is congested. Drivers don’t expect you to be in the street.

Do not engage in horseplay near any vehicle traffic.

Do not enter the street to stand on the center line to await the traffic to clear on the other side of the road. When you do this, drivers cannot always see you.

Cyclists are not pedestrians. To be a pedestrian, cyclists must dismount from their bicycles.