Last week marked the appearance of the Heads Up campaign on the DU campus to promote pedestrian and bicycle safety. The campaign follows a number of vehicle-pedestrian accidents that have occurred near campus, including two student fatalities in the last 18 months.

“There are students who have been hit and students who have been killed by cars. We don’t want any more auto-pedestrian accidents,” said External Communications Manager Will Jones. “The best way to do that is to get the message out not only to the motorists, but also to university students, faculty and staff.”

After the most recent student fatality last April, members of the Undergraduate Student Government (USG), Department of Campus Safety (DCS), administration and Transportation Solutions met to brainstorm ways to increase pedestrian and bicycle safety and awareness.

Commander Michael Holt of DCS said Transportation Solutions, a non-profit organization that services the southeast Denver metro area, brought up the Heads Up campaign that the City of Denver started in May.

“A lot of different campus groups had been talking about this for a while because of the accidents that have happened around campus. No one is happy about that,” said Katie Bonomo, program administrator of Transportation Solutions. “When the City of Denver Heads Up campaign started, people here latched onto that.”

DU contacted the city and received materials such as posters, safety tip cards and public service announcement videos, which were modified with university logos and reprinted.

Jones said Heads Up is trying to get posters in every building on campus, and DCS will be handing out safety tip cards at student events. PSAs will play across campus, including at athletic events. Heads Up is also using social media and email to reach out to students.

“In any sort of traffic safety campaign you have to hit all three E’s: education, enforcement and engineering,” said Bonomo.

The posters and safety tips on campus will be part of the education. The Denver Police Department (DPD) will be carrying out enforcement off campus, according to Holt. Variable message boards, such as those seen in construction areas, will appear on Evans and University to warn drivers they are entering a high pedestrian area. There will also be photo radar vans in those areas.

DPD will also be enforcing pedestrian and bicycle laws. Holt said they will be doing some education, but they will also be writing some tickets.

“The accidents that have happened have had various people at fault. You can’t blame any one group. Everyone needs to pay more attention to everyone else,” said Bonomo.

Last Thursday, Heads Up also had a meeting to discuss engineering and the possibility of making physical changes to the streets around campus. Jones said this could include speed bumps, traffic circles or lowered speed limits to force drivers to slow down.

Bonomo and Holt said the facilities department is currently talking with the city about building three raised, lighted crosswalks on East Asbury Avenue, which is a major thoroughfare for pedestrians. Bonomo said the university is also working on a study of the Evans and University intersection to see what could make it safer. Results should appear in the next two to three weeks.

“These are two major roads and we don’t own them,” said Jones. “But we will listen to what the students say, take the information to the appropriate people and make a case for the students.”
The first stage of Heads Up at DU will last four to five weeks, according to Bonomo. After that, the campaign will reappear at strategic times throughout the year, such as when students return to campus after spring break. The campaign will not be ongoing, so students will not start to ignore it, said Bonomo.

“I don’t think students realize they’re putting their lives in jeopardy. They think they’re indestructible. They think, ‘It’s not going to happen to me,’” said Jones. “College is a time when you’re not supposed to worry about anything. But DU is at the intersection of two major roads, and unfortunately, students have to worry. I want them to worry and I want them to be aware. When it comes to car versus human, human usually doesn’t win.”

For more information visit Facebook.com/HeadsUpDenver.