With everyone moving back into town, I thought this would be a good time to remind everyone of some basic rules that will help you stay alive. My job as a delivery driver has allowed me to see many things that have made me cringe.

Spending the nights driving around town and on campus while the over-21 crowd is drunk and wandering around and the under-21 crowd is just plain wandering around, I can't tell you the number of times I have almost run over people. The last time I checked, the average car weighs about a ton (2,000 pounds). The average person weighs between 150 and 200 pounds. If you are 10 percent the weight of my car, and I'm traveling at 35 mph, you can stop a lot quicker than I can. This means that if you step off the curb and into oncoming traffic, you could end up dead, while the driver ends up with a body-shaped dent in the car.

With the number of vehicle-pedestrian accidents in this town each year, a sane person would think that people would start looking before they leap into traffic. This, however, is not the case. And yet, whenever I blow my horn and slam on my breaks because some idiot stepped into my driving path, I'm the bad guy. Just remember, when someone is driving, that person is bigger and heavier than you are. Also, that person is encased in a steel cage, while you are encased in cotton clothing. Look before you cross the road, and maybe we can all have a better day.

Robert Weyls

senior-environmental resource management