Two seperate incidents involving students being hit by a car open up the coversation about pedestrian safety
In a little over a week apart, Winthrop’s campus was the site of two separate accidents where students were hit by a car while crossing the street.
The most recent accident occurred on the morning of Feb. 7, when a 67-year-old non-traditional student was making her way across the crosswalk in front of Tillman Building.
The woman was struck by a car driven by an adjunct faculty member.
According to Alisha Hinson, a witness to the accident, “The pedestrian face planted the curb, which broke her nose and knocked some teeth out, and she messed her leg up. This all happened like 100 feet in front of me.”
Hinson was glad that she was able to help out with the situation.
“I’m glad that I was there to help out because the lady that was there was shaken up enough and I was calm enough and was able to call the right people. If I were Winthrop, I would consider putting a crosswalk light at all the crosswalks,” she said.
The woman who was struck was transported to Piedmont Medical Center at the time of the incident. The adjunct family member was charged.
Prior to the accident in front of Tillman, a similar incident occurred on the other side of campus at the intersection of Cherry Road and Alumni Drive.
In the evening of Jan. 28, two female students were walking in the crosswalk between Legion Parking Lot and Wofford Parking Lot when they were struck by a vehicle driven by a male Winthrop student.
The daily case logs maintained by the Winthrop Police Department states that, at the time of the incident, the male student stated “he did not see the victims due to the heavy rain and darkness.”
According to Chief of Police Ken Scoggins, “It was just an unfortunate set of circumstances and it seems like everyone involved, both the students that were hit and the student that was driving the vehicle…they were just in the wrong place at the wrong time under those circumstances.”
Both victims denied being transported to Piedmont Medical Center for further evaluation and have since been checked on and reported to be okay.
Campus Safety Concern
The issue of pedestrian safety and the amount of lighting on campus has become a concern in light of recent events.
At least once a month, Winthrop police conduct lighting surveys, which has officers “go through campus and look at all the existing lighting on campus to make sure that number one, make sure that it is adequate and we have the right lighting in the right place and to make sure we don’t have any bulbs out, any lighting fixtures that need to be replaced, any service workers needed,” Scoggins said.
Winthrop Police have also placed pedestrian crosswalk signs in multiple areas, including Alumni Dr. to make both drivers and pedestrians aware that this is a safety concern.
Scoggins has also taken it upon himself to improve the issue of pedestrian safety in regards to the recent accidents.
Scoggins said, “I looked on our campus website to see if we had anything there that is specifically addressing campus safety and I found that we do not. There’s a lot of different safety tips from a variety of different topics but nothing there about pedestrian safety.”
He continues, “Pedestrian safety is the most, vehicle safety as well, is an ongoing conversation here with campus police. Again, we want to create as safe an environment as possible and any feedback from any of the students, any of the staff at Winthrop University, please give us a call and we’ll address it immediately.”
For any concerns involving campus safety or other concerns, call Winthrop University Police Department at 803-323-3333.
