Last semester, a student collided with a Rochester Police Department cruiser while pulling out of the Riverview driveway.
Driving out of Riverview is a gamble people take every time they try leaving the complex, because the always-occupied parking spots lined up on either side of the entrance make it nearly impossible to see whether traffic is clear.
This is a familiar risk to students who live in Riverview, jarring for those who’ve driven over to visit a friend, and one that gained traction in January and February: a Students’ Association (SA) IMPACT petition asking the administration to install mirrors there received over 270 signatures; the SA senate Campus Services Committee said it would look into the situation; and SA President Vito Martino visited a city council meeting to speak about the issue.
This is a risk for UR employees, too: shuttle drivers and Public Safety officers have to crane their necks and inch into traffic to see if the coast is clear.
But the semester is almost done, and there are no mirrors, much less any tangible solution to this obvious safety hazard.
At the bare minimum, the University should install the mirrors the petition called for. To actually do right by its students, employees, and drivers of the 19th Ward, though, UR should pressure the appropriate municipal authority to remove some of the spots on South Plymouth Avenue—perhaps two on each side of the Riverview entrance—or to put up stop signs and make a proper intersection. Or both.
Martino’s voice is appreciated, but he is only one student. The full-throated voice of the city’s largest employer might make our local government perk up just a bit more.