Editorial: Make Crawford Road streetlight project, student safety a priority


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Kaiti Chritz | Photo Editor Cars drive along Crawford road at around 7 p.m. on Jan. 7. In November of 2015 Ryan Tsatsos, a CMU freshman, was killed in a hit and run accident just after midnight while walking back to campus along Crawford road.

When freshman Ryan Tsatsos was killed by a hit and run driver on Crawford Road just more than two months ago, our campus community was shocked and heartbroken.

Tsatsos and his friends were trekking along a stretch of road that has no sidewalks, a speed limit of 50 miles per hour and no streetlights. It is used by many student pedestrians each day.

One side of the road resides in Union Township. The other side lies in the jurisdiction of Central Michigan University and the city.

Last month, the township discussed forming a partnership with the university and Mount Pleasant that would bring streetlights and sidewalks to that area.

We support this initiative. We urge CMU decision-makers to help fund the project, and accelerate the planning and construction process.

Apartment complexes, such as Deerfield Village and Lexington Square Apartments, are located near the scene of last semester’s tragedy. These complexes are populated primarily by students.

CMU has a responsibility to facilitate our safety, especially on property it owns. With the exception of Crawford Road, the sidewalks throughout campus and the surrounding area are proof the university takes this responsibility seriously.

The current conditions of Crawford Road at night make it impossible for motorists to see pedestrians along the side of the road.

Until this project is completed, we advise students that live in the area to use other routes or means of transportation to get to campus.

There is a precedent for CMU helping local government’s initiative to keep pedestrian traffic as safe as possible.

Late last year, the university and the city of Mount Pleasant reached an agreement to partner for a $60,000 project to put more streetlights in the city’s downtown area.

Part of that initiative, city officials said, was to curb off-campus behavior in heavily populated areas north of campus. 

What should be more important than taming the sometimes falsely-characterized misbehavior of students is the assurance of their safety.

If CMU is willing to spend money to keep students from misbehaving, then it should dedicate resources to keeping us out of harms way.

The CMU community has already paid a price along Crawford Road. 

Now it is our university’s responsibility to prevent a tragedy like this from happening again.

 

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