Zoe Covey
Contributing Writer
On Tuesday, Oct. 24, Tara Keller ’18 was struck by a silver Cadillac driving down Beall Avenue while she crossed the street between Babcock Hall and the tennis courts.
She was hit suddenly, and recalls thinking it was strange that the driver did not slow or stop as she entered the crosswalk. Student security workers witnessed the incident and called it in. An uninvolved driver stopped to call 911, and the owner of the silver Cadillac stayed for the filing of a police report after police arrived. Keller was subsequently transported to Wooster Community Hospital for X-rays to assess her condition.
“When I was in the hospital, I was dealing with everything with a lot of humor, just as my initial reaction. Everyone deals with weird and traumatic incidents differently, and I was able to laugh through the first day or two,” she said.
But as the week has gone by, worries have arisen about what impact her injuries may have on her life going forward. She has no broken bones, but is still dealing with some significant medical issues as a result of the accident. With a knee injury, Keller is concerned about how her mobility will be affected.
“I’m worried about how that’s going to affect my senior year and my future. I’m worried that I won’t be able to march with the band for Saturday’s game, my last game ever as a senior. I actually feel like I’ve had something stolen from me with that one. I’m worried about how long it’ll take to heal, and if I’ll have to deal with an injured knee forever,” said Keller.
The impact of this incident may affect Keller more deeply than she anticipated those first few days. When asked her thoughts on how The College of Wooster could prevent this sort of thing from happening again, Keller suggested that crosswalk visibility could be improved.
“One thing that I’ve been thinking of that could at least help with the problem of cars driving down Beall with no intention of stopping for students could be to add a few stop signs where the crosswalks are. Not necessarily every crosswalk, maybe every other or so, just something to add spots on the street where cars are expected to completely stop. I think maybe it would slow cars down, and it would be a reminder that they do have to stop for pedestrians,” she said.
Keller also cited the relationship between the College and the community as a factor in the confusion students and cars face when crossing Beall.
“They’re annoyed to wait for college students crossing the street constantly, we’re annoyed because they don’t stop for us and nearly hit us rather frequently and because there are several parallel roads that can be taken instead of Beall,” she said.
Traffic on Beall has been a concern for College staff in the past. In 2012, for example, the current button-activated crosswalk system was constructed in front of Lowry in an attempt to improve the flow of car and pedestrian