By Natasha Sabey
The BYU Police Department encouraged students to have courtesy for each other with traffic and parking at a Q&A session sponsored by the Student Advisory Council on Thursday.
University Police Chief Larry Stott and Lt. Greg Barber answered students” questions regarding parking, pedestrians, bicycles and other modes of transportation on campus.
“It”s a courtesy issue,” Barber said. “If everyone deals with each other in a courteous manner, we are all happy and safe, and no one gets a trip to the hospital”
Students raised questions regarding the number of available parking spaces and bike racks on campus. Stott said he does not see any dramatic changes in this situation in the near future.
“Many years ago, it was decided this campus would be a walking campus,” he said. “We want [bicycles] parked on the exterior and walked on the interior.”
Stott also said that students complain there is no parking available, when, in reality, the issue is that there is no convenient parking.
“We actually have excellent parking here. I”ve never seen us run out of parking spaces,” he said.
However, Stott did express understanding for the students” concerns. He said it would be nice if everyone was able to park next to the building his or her classes are in, but that”s not possible. Therefore, students should try to be more open-minded about parking a little further away.
Stott also said he believes the decision by the University to offer parking passes free of charge was a good idea.
“[This policy] hasn”t been as accepted as I thought it would be,” he said. “[Students] now say parking lots are clogged up … but I firmly believe parking didn”t get worse by giving out free passes.”
Barber said there are two cars registered for every parking stall on campus. He said that is actually a good ratio, since not everyone is on campus at the same time.
“If we hold to that, we should be in great shape,” he said. “We still have acres of parking that sits empty all the time.”
Questions were also raised concerning pedestrian traffic. Stott said everyone should be cautious and be aware of others around them.
“In theory, pedestrians would stay on crosswalks and sidewalks, and cars would yield to them always,” he said. “The basic policy is: try not to mix pedestrians with vehicles.”
The current speed limit for bicycles on sidewalks is 8 mph, but Barber said they are also looking into enforcing a speed limit for bicycles on roads.
“One of the things we”re really concerned with is your safety,” he said.
Stott addressed the issue of rules banning skateboards, longboards, roller blades and scooters on campus. He said it would be too complicated to create a specific rule for every single possibility, so the easiest thing to do was ban all such modes of transportation on campus.
“People need to know and understand the policy, and it needs to be enforceable,” he said. “If we didn”t stay on top of it, we would really get overrun in a big hurry.”
Stott said he hopes students will take the time to learn about the policies and then follow them, in order to protect the safety and well-being of themselves and others.
“Sometimes we do things that bug people, but really our desire is to make [campus] better and safer for you,” he said.
