What's with the need for speed?

While crossing a sidewalk on North Perimeter Road last week, I remember noticing a young woman who was heading my way. She wasn’t particularly attractive, and she had a distorted expression that made it look like half of her lip was pressed up against a pane of glass; but for some reason, I couldn’t take my eyes off her. Then it hit me – well, almost – she was about to f-king run me over with her car.

If I had jumped in her way, then fine, I would have deserved whatever happened. But I was walking on a crosswalk that she had fully stopped at. And unfortunately, a motorist zooming by a pedestrian at a crosswalk on campus is something that I have seen quite a bit. This is a disturbing and potentially dangerous trend that can’t be justified and needs to end.

In 2004, more than 700 pedestrians were killed in California, according to the California Department of Health Services Web site. Of course, I’ve never actually seen this happen on campus, but would it be smart to wait until a student is getting peeled off a windshield before considering it an issue?

So with this pretty impressive death count, where are people headed in such a hurry that would justify the sacrifice? Since I often see this on campus, I assumed class. But is getting to class on time really worth it? Students generally don’t seem to care if someone walks in late. I can’t say that someone walking to his or her seat during a lecture has ever totally blown my focus. Being late may piss off teachers, but it’s nothing a quick apology after class won’t take care of.

There is also the possibility of rushing to work. But honestly, work sucks. Students generally don’t have their dream jobs at this point in life, so why would it be worth mowing someone over at a crosswalk for a crappy, minimum-wage job bagging groceries? Yeah, bills always need to get paid, but getting another shitty job is never that difficult. And even if it is a good job, it’s not worth risking the lives of others for.

I suppose a person can be in a rush during an emergency. I can definitely see myself charging past someone waiting to cross the street if I was suffering from a gunshot wound, my wife was in the backseat giving birth to triplets, and Lo Pan from “Big Trouble in Little China” was chasing us. But (somewhat cool) emergencies like this don’t happen every day, so it really is not a good excuse.

So if there are no good excuses, then why is this behavior fairly common? It may just be this generation. Maybe shows like “Jackass” made it cool to be an aggressive asshole, and as a result, stopping to let someone cross the street isn’t extreme enough. Maybe it’s technology. It may be possible to get so caught up in a conversation while on a cell phone that the road and the lives crossing it aren’t a priority. Whatever the reasoning is, it just needs to end.

So what can be done? Well, when there is someone waiting at a crosswalk, stop. It doesn’t take long, and it kind of feels good to help someone out, even if it is just in a small way. And besides, there is always that chance that while stopped, I will bump into a girl that I just can’t take my eyes off of – but hopefully in a good way this time.

Angel Pacheco is a philosophy senior, Mustang Daily staff writer and copy editor.