Traffic emergency

Now that two Wesleyan students have been hit by cars while crossing local streets this year, the need to revamp the traffic-crossing system in Middletown is grossly apparent. For sure, one problem is that students cross streets all over the place, and without regard for crossing signals. But the traffic system itself is at least as much of a problem. Forcing pedestrians to wait, often through two signal changes, every single time they reach an intersection, causes such inconvenience that it practically invites jaywalking. The system of pressing a button to stop ALL FOUR directions of traffic, while charmingly provincial, is illogical and has no place in a city like Middletown. Also, putting up little, freestanding, unlighted signs saying “stop for pedestrian in crosswalk,” on a hilly street with limited visibility, with no speed bumps to supplement them, forces drivers and pedestrians into a dangerous, and often unintentional, game of chicken. It seems whoever set up the streets failed to notice that there was a moderately sized university nearby, but now that the problems have become dangerously clear, it’s time for the school and the city to work together to revamp traffic control in and around the school, to prevent a fatal accident.