If you have ever crossed the Boulevard of the Allies, you might have had an experience where the walk sign was on for you to cross and, midway through, a random car turns and almost hits you. Unfortunately, that happens a lot on campus and it’s because Pittsburgh’s infrastructure sucks.

Personally, this happens almost every time I cross the Boulevard of the Allies, which is every day. Drivers seem so adamant to disobey traffic laws on a whim. 

Aurora Coy, a sophomore, spoke about her experience with bad drivers. She said that she almost got hit three times in one week while crossing Boulevard of the Allies. 

Whenever the walk sign turns on, pedestrians legally have the right of way to cross the street. Afterwards, it is expected by law for drivers to proceed after the crosswalk is clear.

According to a report published by PennDoT, in 2022, Pennsylvania experienced 3,160 pedestrian injuries and 184 fatalities, with all incidents being caused by vehicles. In Allegheny County, 297 of these cases resulted in injuries and 16 were fatalities.

Most of the time, these drivers just continue turning and inch their cars closer to whoever is crossing; I have seen this first hand. This kind of driving invokes fear of crossing the road, even when it is presumed safe to do so. This may contribute more to people feeling unsafe while on campus. 

According to the City of Pittsburgh website, in March, Pittsburgh is taking precautionary measures to lessen the injuries and fatalities by introducing “Vision Zero,” an international movement to prevent traffic fatalities and serious injuries through a safe-system approach. 

This plan, which was announced by Mayor Ed Gainey, the Department of Mobility and Infrastructure (DOMI) and Councilwoman Barb Warwick, created an interdepartmental working group that aims to eliminate the amount of injuries and fatalities of these accidents. There is also a fatal crash response group which aims to prevent crashes at their root and develop short-term and long term solutions to achieve this. 

One of the resources that the Vision Zero website provides access to is the High Injury Network (HIN), a network of Pittsburgh roads with the most injuries or fatalities. It shows these roads by highlighting them with yellow lines. 

Boulevard of the Allies is one of the many Pittsburgh streets included in the High Injury Network. The line stretches the entirety of Boulevard of the Allies, starting at Commonwealth Place and ending in front of Schenley Park. 

A major hot spot like Boulevard of the Allies splitting Point Park’s campus in half is bound to cause an accident among the students at some point.

In my opinion, part of the reason why the roads in Pittsburgh suck so much is because the drivers either don’t care or are in a hurry to be the first to wherever they’re going. Part of this reason is because of a controversial maneuver called “The Pittsburgh left.”

“The Pittsburgh left” is a common driving term used in Pittsburgh. Simply put, people turning left at a light in the intersection try to turn left before anyone else goes straight, which leaves more risk of injury. 

This is definitely a cause for concern and warrants further investigation to prevent any college students from getting injured, or worse, killed.