Between 2004 and 2012, there were 161 car and bicycle accidents causing injuries in East Lansing, according to crash data from the Office of Highway Safety Planning. There were five fatal accidents and 91 other accidents causing injury between pedestrians and cars.

Something needs to be done to make the roads safer for everyone, especially if walking and biking continue to grow in popularity.

A new bill introduced in Michigan’s House of Representatives aims to protect pedestrians and cyclists by increasing fines and jail time for drivers who cause injury or death.

Currently, drivers face 93 days in jail and up to $500 in fines for accidents causing serious injury and up to one year in jail and $2,000 in fines, or both, for a moving violation causing death.

The new legislation would give pedestrians and other “vulnerable roadway users” the same protection afforded to agricultural equipment operators, such as tractor drivers. Hitting a tractor driver and causing injury is a misdemeanor offense and could result in $1,000 in fines, a year in jail or both. Punishment for killing an operator could mean $7,500 in fines, 15 years in prison or both.

It’s a good effort, but we question how much this bill would help.

Although more needs to be done to protect students and community members using the streets, whether this law is the solution is unclear.

More than anything, education is necessary to help prevent serious and life-threatening accidents from happening.

Even if saving someone’s life is not enough to make some drivers take getting behind the wheel more seriously, jail time and fines should do the trick.

But the reality is that unless people know the potential consequences for injuring or killing a pedestrian, this law would do nothing to prevent those accidents from happening.

Similar to warnings in construction sites on the highway, this law will be most effective if coupled with signs in areas with dense foot or bicycle traffic. Especially for parents, out-of-town fans and prospective students unfamiliar with just how many cyclists and pedestrians we have on campus, a simple warning sign could mean the difference between life and death.

The drivers who zoom by bikers yelling profanities out their windows and the drivers who mutter their frustrations with pedestrians under their breath still might not truly understand the concept of sharing the road at first, but they would have greater incentive not to gun it down M.A.C. Avenue.

Just as drunken driving is widely frowned upon in society, greater awareness could help change the culture and attitudes toward bikers and pedestrians.

Hopefully in time, education will help drivers realize that everyone who uses the streets deserves respect. More importantly, we need to make it clear that everyone deserves to feel safe on the roads, whether this bill passes or not.