The Chico community is slowly showing how much safety laws are unimportant. Whether on foot, bicycle, motorcycle or vehicle, road safety is becoming more of a problem. Accidents are bound to happen especially now with the construction going on at Chico State. The root of the issue is that people lack basic etiquette, knowledge of safety rules and just common human decency.

As a bicyclist in Chico, it is terrifying cycling down the bicycle lane and almost hitting pedestrians coming down the same path. The problem is even worse where pedestrians walk on the opposite side of the road, where a perfectly paved payment is set up. Bicyclist and skateboarders too, they are not always following the rules by going the opposite direction of a lane. We know people in vehicles don’t always look both ways when their car jerks as you move out of the way. Clearly, most community members need reminders since the signs don’t do much of the job. If you’re asking what signs? Then I rest my case.

There are signs throughout Chico that are meant to give precautionary warnings, so the city is doing their job. However, the common human decency of this town needs some work. We’ve seen it, when a car passes through a stop sign by Yolo and Plumas Hall going down Warner.

How can we be a part of the solution?

To start off, we need to obey traffic laws and be aware of our surroundings. This is essential, especially going down Park Avenue where the streetlights are rarely visible. But most importantly, slow your speed limit. In a study by wheelforwomen, evidence from several countries showed that going 1mph in speed will result in a 3% decrease in the incidence of injury crashes and a 4-5% decrease for fatal crashes.

Second, we need to show support and participate in the actions Chico takes on about safety. Read the safety signs, go the right direction along the road, look both ways and, most importantly, don’t drink and drive and don’t text and drive. Chico State can also participate by informing the community on areas that can be dangerous to pedestrians during the time of construction.

We should have these things drilled into our brains, especially in times like these where society is hooked on to social media. We’ve been lucky to not hear about safety everyday thus far, but the lack of it is showing results when we must move out of the way in fear of our lives. I mean, this is pure frustration, please don’t hit me.

Karen Limones can be reached at [email protected] or @theorion_news on Twitter.