Fatal accident raises safety concerns

Less than 24 hours after a car accident on Fee Lane killed sophomore Peter Duong, IU announced Thursday that it would review the current traffic and pedestrian patterns to determine if any changes should be made.

IU spokesman Larry MacIntyre said these changes could come in the form of more crosswalks, stoplights, signs or altered speed limits.

Safety experts in the IU Office of Risk Management have already started reviewing trends, he said.

“Any time there’s an incident involving a student,” MacIntyre said, “the administration will conduct a thorough examination of all of the issues to determine if we need to put in place any additional safety measures.”

Just hours after Duong was killed on Fee Lane, another accident happened at the 13th and Fee Lane intersection, said IU Police Department Lt. Craig Munroe.

Around 10:30 p.m. a pizza delivery car was turning south off 13th Street when it bumped into a girl walking northbound. She was not injured in the incident, Munroe said.

MacIntyre gave no timetable for when the review would be completed and sent to IU President Michael McRobbie.

MacIntyre said, however, that under Indiana law, students do not have the right-of-way at crosswalks. He said cars only have to stop at crosswalks with flashing yellow lights.

He said the committee will look into whether adding flashing lights would be beneficial.
MacIntyre said the University has been reluctant in previous years to add more crosswalks to campus.

“It’s always been our fear that if we have crosswalks all over campus we would inadvertently be giving them a false sense of security or expectation that they can step into the crosswalk and cars will stop,” MacIntyre said.

The review will focus on Fee Lane, one of the busiest areas of campus, but may examine all IU streets.

MacIntyre said that of the five accidents involving pedestrians on campus this calendar year, three were on Fee Lane and two occurred Wednesday.