Drivers wait their turn to go through the four-way stop
Photo: David Scibilia/The Bona Venture
BY DAVID SCIBILIA, MANAGING EDITOR
Ninety-five percent of St. Bonaventure University drivers fail to make a complete stop at the four-way stop near the Public Bathrooms on the east side of campus unless there is a pedestrian or a right-of-way conflict.
Over a week across varying times, The Bona Venture collected six hours of data on drivers interacting with the intersection. We observed a total of 1,557 independent interactions, 1,247 of which were rolling stops or no stops at all. When there were no pedestrians in a crosswalk and no right-of-way conflicts, only 79 out of the 1,557 cars came to a complete stop.
“The university should not have to incentivize people to obey the New York State Vehicle and Traffic Law and stop at these traffic control devices,” said Gary Segrue, the associate dean for campus safety. “We can enforce the egregious or unsafe violations like we have done in the past [by issuing] a moving violations citation or sending the individual through our judicial process.”
Student pedestrians said they stay attentive when crossing the intersection.
“People are normally pretty good about stopping when they see me,” said Sean Benacci, a sophomore strategic communications major. “I’m from Rochester and there are a lot of bad drivers there so I’m very aware of my surroundings.”
Benacci rides an electric bike to and from classes and said he crosses this intersection every day.
“The reflectors are good for keeping me safe at night,” said Benacci. “Some people will speed at night so I make sure I’m more aware when it’s dark out.”
Sam Carozza, a junior sports media major who walks through this intersection at least once a day, had similar experiences.
“I only ever really see cars stop when I’m about to enter the crosswalk,” said Carozza. “But sometimes I’ll be halfway through the crosswalk and someone will cut right behind me.”
If the university had given a ticket for failure to obey traffic control signs — a $75 fine — to each driver in violation during our observation, it would have made just over $93,000.
“Safety and Security will investigate for reports of unsafe or egregious operation and enforce violations accordingly,” said Segrue. “Recently we have sent three individuals through the judicial process for unsafe driving through stop signs.”
In the past five years, there has been one instance where a car struck a pedestrian due to the driver rolling through this intersection, said Segrue.
“I think Safety and Security should ticket if drivers are endangering people,” said Carozza. “But if no one is in the intersection, I don’t think it’s a big deal if someone rolls through the stop sign.”
While Safety and Security will not actively monitor any of the intersections on campus, Segrue said they will investigate reports of unsafe driving when they receive them.
scibild22@bonaventure.edu
