Today you may receive a warning about your evil pedestrian ways, but tomorrow have no doubt about it--some serious money will be changing hands. After two days of warnings, Tempe police will be issuing $150 fines for students determined to break traffic laws.
Students bike or walk for several reasons, but often it's because they're poor. So how is a $150 fine going to help? Couple that with the rate of on-campus bicycle theft and students might as well walk everywhere.
There is no shortage of lousy non-drivers out there, but raking in the dough for one day won't change their habits in the long run. If some cyclists and jaywalkers are going to put themselves into harm's way to bypass a light or get to class a few seconds early (as silly as playing Frogger in ubiquitous traffic), that is their decision and they must suffer the potential consequences.
That certainly doesn't console the guilt-ridden drivers who smash into people by no fault of their own. Of course setting and maintaining a standard pedestrian pattern makes people more aware, but nothing can keep accidents from occurring. And not every such accident is the result of a person ignoring the law. Yet the safety of rogue students is the pivotal justification for instituting these fines.
The notion that the Tempe police care more about our lives than we do is rather a load of crap. If you're going to sponsor a little fund-raising with taxpayers' dollars, don't be coy about it -- come out and say it. We don't buy into the this-hurts-me-more-than-it-hurts-you idea that if we aren't going to look out for ourselves then we need a fat fine to remind us just how precious we are.
It's not good enough that you can't drive, park or even own a car in Tempe without getting a fistful of tickets; now we have to shoulder the financial burden.
Soon we'll have walking fines. "Hey, you're not walking right. Get over here! You looked left then right, but you failed to look left again. Here's your ticket."
If it were really about stopping this problem dead in its tracks, make the fine $50,000 and don't tell people when you're going to be out. We're not supporting another blanket law here, just making a point. $150 is not going to change the world, and it will not change people's habits. Unfortunately, it won't bring back those who have died in traffic accidents nor prevent inevitable future mishaps.
What will it do?
While tickets alone are significant funding for ASU Parking and Transit, people still park illegally -- you figure it out. Again, we students are treated as nothing more than cash cows for unsuccessful legislation.
