Sarah Ortiz said she definitely saw the white delivery van stopped at the crosswalk in front of the Construction Innovations Center on Perimeter Drive. At that time, it seemed like a routine morning at the crosswalk she uses five times a day.
Since then, there has been no such thing as a routine crossing for the mathematics junior.
Ortiz was hit on her left side as she crossed South Perimeter Road Nov. 3 by a van making a delivery to Cal Poly Campus Dining. She said she slid across the street to its far side, though she was not seriously injured.
“I was just walking, and all of a sudden, I felt the impact,” Ortiz said.
The fall on the pavement scraped her elbows, hips and shoulder. She said a Health Center employee initially thought Ortiz fractured her left arm. It was later determined that no fracture was sustained.
Ortiz didn’t initially know what to do, she said. In fact, she said, at the time, she didn’t understand what significance there was to being involved in an accident of this sort.
“I didn’t think it was that big of a deal I got hit,” Ortiz said. “I had zero idea. Now, people have said it’s a really big deal, getting hit. Especially on campus.”
The incident brings back memories of a collision last May involving then-psychology junior Kelli Hoffert crossing Highland Drive near Campus Market. After she was struck by a pickup truck, Hoffert’s foot was caught under the tire of the moving vehicle. She fell backward and hit her head, which resulted in a fractured skull. She was immediately transported to Sierra Vista Regional Medical Center.
Hoffert did not respond to the Mustang Daily about an update on her health after the collision.
Since 2005, 23 pedestrian-vehicle accidents have occurred on campus. This statistic includes pedestrian-bicyclist accidents, because bicycles are considered vehicles under the law.
Four of the 23 accidents occurred in 2011, the highest yearly number since 2008, when there were six. Cal Poly University Police Department (UPD) chief Bill Watton said because the number of these accidents is so low, it is difficult to see trends from year to year. Four, he said, is a fairly average number of pedestrian accidents to occur at Cal Poly.
The university, he said, is safe for its size.
Watton said ongoing construction on campus has not played a part in any of these accidents.
“For the numbers of people and the numbers of cars moving around, we are very lucky,” he said.
There are several collisions Watton said students do not report. He said people may not feel the need to report all accidents involving pedestrians, but are much more likely to report them if the accident involves two vehicles.
Ortiz was in a similar state of mind immediately after her collision, she said. She didn’t know what to do at first, so, despite her injuries, she walked into her morning class.
“I was so in shock,” she said. “I was just like, ‘I just got hit by a car. I don’t know what to do.’ And I was crying.”
Ortiz left class with a friend to go to the Health Center, where she was evaluated and encouraged to file a police report.
Nutrition senior Nicole Pound, who said she uses crosswalks on campus five or six times every day, said she sees a lack of caution with both pedestrians and drivers on campus.
Some drivers, she said, “are preoccupied in their own world. They’re not thinking about dangers on campus or anything.”
And some pedestrians, she said, “just go without looking, and they won’t see everyone else is letting a car pass.”
Both Watton and Ortiz said the driver who hit Ortiz did not see her because of the way the sunlight hit his eyes. It was not a case of distracted driving.
Watton said people need to be more careful when crossing the street, and make sure they are aware of all cars before using a crosswalk.
“You’ll see that just walking around,” Watton said. “You’ll see people just walking right into the middle of the street without watching, on their phone, or talking to somebody.”
The way Ortiz crosses the street has drastically changed since her accident, she said. To get to and from campus, she still crosses the street at the same location she was hit, but is more careful when doing so.
“I wait for every biker to go, whether they’re far or close,” she said. “I make eye contact 100 percent with every driver.”
Though she said she realizes it is rare that someone would be hit more than once, she no longer takes safety for granted while using crosswalks on campus.
“It’s scary,” she said. “Because I know it’s like lightning, the chances of it happening twice are slim, but it’s definitely changed the way I cross the street.”