Road rage is no stranger to me. I have learned to embrace this overwhelming sense of aggravation that usually hits me around Abbott Road and E. Grand River Avenue, right before entering the annoyance otherwise known as campus driving.
Whenever I leave my house, I never fail to get behind that one driver talking on a cell phone, drinking coffee and playing with the radio while trying to drive.
Time and again, I am that girl who walks into class a derogatory five minutes late because of the driving and tedious parking conditions on campus.
But I am not alone.
It is almost reassuring to see that other person slide into his or her seat 10 minutes late with the same frustrated look I was wearing earlier.
“I am always late for class,” journalism sophomore Lindsay Bechtel said. “I either wind up in a traffic jam or behind a car that stops every quarter of a mile to let a friend out in the middle of the street.”
After I talked to Bechtel and several other students about their opinions, I realized there’s an endless number of otherwise pleasant students who lose their minds just trying to get to class.
Bechtel said the cross section right in front of the Sparty statue bothers her the most.
“I don’t understand the way that road is set up,” she said. “There is one stop sign, pedestrians that don’t look before they cross and traffic is always backed up when I am on my way to the (Communication Arts and Sciences Building.)”
Driving across campus takes time and patience, considering pedestrians and thick traffic take over campus before and after main class times.
“Not only is there so much commotion, but pedestrians are like deer in headlights,” kinesiology junior Katie Wood said. “When I have to drive to my 10:20, I dodge people just as much as I stop at a stop sign.”
Pedestrians who don’t look before they cross are bad enough, but add the element of a bicycle, and you get a whole different problem.
“I’m a pretty laid-back guy, but bikers just fly right out in front of you like they don’t even care,” finance senior Bob Allan said. “I hate it when they don’t pay attention.”
Having a night class is good because parking is free, and traffic is less congested, but the day is an entirely different story.
“I’d rather rip off my arm and beat myself with it than drive on campus at 12:20,” English sophomore Jessi Nelson said. “Everyone has a 12:40, and sometimes I just find it best to suck it up and walk two miles to my class.”
After dodging pedestrians who don’t look and finally making your way to your destination, you have to open up your wallet and feed the meter the rest of your precious money that you can’t afford to spend.
“The parking meters suck me dry,” advertising junior Tom Korzon said. “I spend up to $10 a week - that’s more than I spend on gas.”
And sometimes there isn’t even an option of feeding the meter, because there aren‘t any parking spots open.
“I have gone to the (Communication Arts and Sciences Building’s) parking structure and not found a spot four times this year,” Korzon said. “You never really know if you’re going to make it to class when you’re driving by yourself.”
There may be hope for meter-poor drivers. Justin Winslow, a political theory and constitutional democracy senior, said parking at Breslin Center is free.
“Parking at the Breslin has been free all this semester,” he said. “It’s really saved me a lot of money.”
I feel better knowing I’m not the only one gripping the wheel with white knuckles and shouting curses at drivers who can’t hear me. And as the semester dwindles down, I remind myself campus driving will only have to be endured for another few weeks, then a glorious four-month break will follow.
I just take a deep breath, put my keys in the ignition and prepare myself for the spring hazard of pedestrians on in-line skates.
Jackie Froeber, a free-lancer for The State News, doesn’t want to hurt anyone, but she may run you over if you if you walk out in front of her red 1990 Pontiac Grand Am without looking. Send her your thoughts at froeberj@msu.edu.
