Due to careless driving on campus, the Department of Public Safety in partnership with the City of Prairie View and Waller County Precinct 3 Constable are increasing the enforcement of traffic laws to provide a safe environment for pedestrians. “We’ve had some complaints about speeding in school zones recently,” Prairie View campus police sergeant Edward Price said, referring to the area near H.T. Jones Elementary on University Drive. The speed limit around campus is 20 mph. “We don’t want to have any accidents in the area; since we have had some complaints, we have become more aggressive.”
The public safety partnership is working to enforce laws on campus and in the surrounding communities. “We’ve had a lot of problems with passing school busses while the lights are flashing and while children are getting on and off the bus; this is illegal and will be enforced on campus and the surrounding area,” said Price.
The fine levied for a traffic violation depends on whether the officer issues the ticket as a campus citation or a county citation. “We can give you a county citation every time,” stated Price. “It’s at the officer’s discretion.” Campus citations are not processed on permanent records and are issued at a flat rate of $45. However, this fee could soon be increasing. County citations vary according to the violation and its severity. For example, speeding in a school zone incurs a fee of $265, while speeding 10 mph over the speed limit receives a $165 fine and increases by $5 for each mph over 10. Students may obtain a “schedule of acceptable fines” from any Waller County police station and they will eventually be available at the campus police station.
According to Price, there was a pedestrian hit by a vehicle on L.W. Minor Street. “We’ve had an enormous problem with people running stop signs. We would appreciate if students would slow down, stop at stop signs, and wear their seat belts,” said Price. In the 10 years Price has been at the university, he is not aware of any elementary school kids being involved in pedestrian-car accidents. Price said, “That’s what [elementary children being hit by cars] we want to prevent. We want to keep everyone safe on the campus and the surrounding area.”
There have also been issues with accidents in parking lots. “Numerous vehicles have been damaged while parked. We have problems with people backing up, parking, or just driving erratically in parking lots. We just want everyone to be safe and drive much safer,” said Price.