Paul Is Not Dead

by Staff | Sep 10, 2014 3:14 pm

(9) Comments | Commenting has been closed | E-mail the Author

Posted to: Arts & Culture, Visual Arts, Transportation

But Peter Salovey has usurped his spot on Abbey Road. Salovey, Yale’s president and a bluegrass bassist, joined three other university honchos to suit up as the Beatles (circa 1969) for a campaign to keep pedestrians safe. The Ivy Four donned the outfits warn by the Fab Four on the cover of their 11th and final studio album, Abbey Road, and crossed College Street at the intersection of Wall. Their message: “PLEASE USE THE CROSSWALK.” The way they did. (So you don’t get run over.) Yale’s Office of Environmental Health & Safety (EHS), which used the photo for a cautionary poster, drove home the point in a release: “Pedestrian fatalities account for 12 percent of motor vehicle fatalities per year. Nationally, on average, one pedestrian is injured every eight minutes, and one is killed approximately every two hours. In 2006 in Connecticut, 44% of the accidents involving pedestrians were due to “unsafe use of the highway by the pedestrian,” meaning the pedestrian was at fault in nearly half of all these accidents.” Besides crossing the street at the crosswalk, pedestrians should check traffic in all directions and obey “Walk” signals (including not crossing when “Don’t Walk” is flashing), EHS advises. For the photo shoot Salovey removed his shoes and socks, just as McCartney did for Abbey Road; but instead of holding a cigarette, as McCartney did, Salovey aimed his right pointer finger toward the ground. Yale Police Chief Ronnell Higgins ditched his uniform to dress as George Harrison; Associate Professor and Traffic Safety Committee Chair Kristen Bechtel stood in for Ringo Starr; and Provost Benjamin Polak portrayed John Lennon, in all-white garb.

Share this story with others.

Post a Comment

Commenting has closed for this entry

Comments

posted by: anonymous on September 10, 2014 3:39pm Cute, but seems dreadfully out of touch, as people are much more likely to die inside the crosswalk than outside it. “Jaywalking” is a term that the automobile industry invented in the 1920s. Instead, the emphasis at Yale needs to be on reducing the speeds of vehicles. Someone hit at 30 is 10 times more likely to die than someone hit at 20 miles per hour. In most communities and universities with the density of a place like Yale, speeds around the area are much more restricted. At Yale, you regularly have people driving up Grove Street - which has lanes that are wider than Interstate 95 - at speeds of 60 miles per hour. As additional students and staff are killed each year, especially with the opening of the new residential colleges, it will continue to be as a result of Yale’s negligence for not pushing for the common sense policy reforms that are found in most other communities.

posted by: cedarhillresident! on September 10, 2014 3:39pm OMG!!! I WANT TO HUG EACH OF THEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THANK YOU!! Many New Haven resident….me especially have come close to hitting these people. York and chapel they ALWAYS cross when the darn hand is lit! And I drive UNDER the speed limit! One of my experience with this very issue.

http://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/archives/entry/the_other_side_of_the_story/

and you can see in the comment section the way some think. Simple childhood lesson. look both ways before you cross and obey the signals. AGAIN BRAVO

posted by: DrJay on September 10, 2014 4:54pm Nice publicity stunt. And it may help a little. How about giving some tickets to both pedestrians and motorists who violate the law on Elm St? I bet the threat of a fine will do more to change crossing behavior than a poster ever will.

posted by: Nathan on September 10, 2014 6:14pm Aside from the expected attempt by “anonymous” to divert focus, this is a satisfying story. Although not technically Yale University, one of the first targeted areas for enforcement should be in front of the main entrance for the hospital, where medical personnel that should know far better regularly set a poor example for visitors. On the other side of the problem, the city needs to setup more aggressive timing for response to the walk signal buttons; without quick, positive feedback (with the intersection of Cedar and Congress as the model), pedestrians will continue to endanger themselves by refusing to wait for the proper signal.

posted by: Pilay on September 10, 2014 9:25pm A nice picture!

Caution is needed crossing roads, of course, but I agree with anonymous here. Half of Yale crosses College in the middle of the day, and yet there are no traffic lights, and just two crosswalks. Instead of blaming the pedestrians, why not fix the structural issue?

The ideal solution would be to pedestrianize - as has been done to the area outside the main Yale library, once a street with cars like any other.

Failing that, a series of “table-tops” on this stretch would slow traffic, and prevent future (inevitable) incidents from being serious. They just did this on the corner of Whalley/Audobon. Surely they can do it on College/Wall and York/Elm, too?

posted by: wendy1 on September 10, 2014 9:43pm Last Friday it was reported in the Yale Daily News the the Yale Police received over $350,000.00 worth of federally supplied military equipment. Perhaps they could use some of it to protect crosswalks. Ha ha. I wonder if they needed it to protect themselves from the Bernie Madoff $chool of Money at SOM. What they need is Windex and a sense of humor. Anyway you kids better behave or else…

posted by: robn on September 11, 2014 6:39am Thank you Peter. Common sense delivered to highly intelligent knumbskulls with a good dose of humor. We also need to:

1) hammer this home at the beginning middle and end of the school year in our public schools.

2) ditto on enforcement

3) our legislative delegation needs to make a full court press on the legislature to allow us to keep fines for traffic violations or #2 just won’t be possible. PS ANONYMOUS, seriously? I don’t think so.

posted by: Username06443 on September 11, 2014 9:48am Would have given Yale an “A” for replicating the iconic Beatles album cover. Anybody notice, however, the misstep by “George?” Grade is now a “C” as it is a crucial element to the legend.