Remembering Justin Bartie And Pedestrian Safety At UT-Tyler

(Student Athlete Justin Bartie in September 2018. Source: X account @BQS108.)

In Oct. 2017, student athlete Justin Bartie was walking home from campus when a southbound motorist struck him along Old Omen Road. The accident left him paralyzed from the waist down.

After this incident, then-University of Texas at Tyler President Michael Tidwell issued a campus-wide statement writing, “We see a clear need for immediate improvements for pedestrian safety. We will start construction on these improvements to make UT Tyler a more pedestrian-friendly campus in the coming weeks.”

At the time, Tidwell spoke of a new “master facilities plan” with the focus of making UT Tyler “a truly pedestrian-friendly campus.” Tidwell exited the University in 2020 and his successor, Dr. Kirk Calhoun of UT Health Science Center took over. 

Since then, the pedestrian crosswalk on Old Omen Rd has been updated to an overhead light signal and moved further away from the University entrance to a new location further south near student housing. 

The University has also installed a sidewalk to facilitate pedestrian traffic to and from campus from Victory Village Apartments, student housing on University Blvd.

However, other than this, what else has the University done to address pedestrian safety, as Tidwell said? 

Furthermore, what is the state of pedestrian safety at UT-Tyler today and is the University doing enough to tackle these issues in the wake of Bartie’s accident? (Moreover, can the University even do anything to prevent these accidents or are these responsibilities solely upon motorists and pedestrians?)

In this article I attempt to answer these questions and identify two historical problem areas that still need the University’s attention with respect to pedestrian safety. I also claim that the cause of the lack of progress on campus pedestrian safety improvements since 2017 is that the cause lacks a clear champion, namely, the student government. Finally, I assert that while state and city regulators can clarify traffic rules that facilitate traveler interactions, every pedestrian bears the responsibility for his own safety. No amount of administrator intervention can replace this.  

Unfortunately, UT-Tyler is falling short of its 2017 commitment to prioritize pedestrian safety by failing to take effective action with regard to two historical problem areas: its north entrance on Varsity Drive and the frequent pedestrian crossing on University Blvd across from Soules College. 

Student government must advocate for safety in a way that keeps the pressure on administration to be an accountability partner for the administration which, collectively, can lose its focus among other higher education demands. It is also given that pedestrian safety issues lack a dedicated champion. 

The University must establish better structure at its north entrance to mitigate pedestrian risks and The City of Tyler must provide clearer rules to facilitate the significant foot and vehicular traffic on Varsity Drive, as I detail below. 

The University must also find a way to address the pedestrian crossing on University Blvd across from Soules College. Understandably, this road is not a University property. However, many campus members flee to the available parking in the commercial parking lot across the street because of failure to find adequate University parking. 

I am unsure of the proper solution, but given that the University has access to both financial resources and professionals contacts in state administration, the institution must take some sort of formal policy position with regard to university community members crossing the highway to get to campus. 

Finally, it appears to me that Mr. Bartie may not have been walking with the best situational awareness when a motorist struck him on Old Omen Road. While regulators have a responsibility to establish clear rules for motorist and pedestrian interactions, nothing can replace the primacy of personal responsibility for one’s safety. 

Whether Mr. Bartie’s situation is an illustration of a tragic failure to mind his surroundings or not, I cannot say for sure. However, it underlines the important point that the pedestrian is the first and primary person responsible for his security. 

So without further ado, let us take a closer look at pedestrian safety at UT-Tyler and see the ways UT-Tyler can improve on its public commitment to pedestrian safety.

Philosophical Approach

At the outset, allow me to try to establish some basic philosophy behind my approach to this topic. 

Personal Responsibility 

Firstly, I do not feel that the University can do anything to fully prevent the kinds of accidents in which Mr. Bartie sadly experienced. For all that the University and the City can do to create clearer boundaries and lessen confusion between motorists and pedestrians, their actions cannot replace the fundamental element of personal responsibility (as I said in above).  

Bartie said at the time of his accident that he did not remember in which direction he was walking when he was on Old Omen Road walking to or from campus. However, the evidence seems to suggest that he was walking northbound away from campus and facing oncoming traffic. How a motorist struck him without his awareness is unknown and confusing. Bartie did not respond to a request for comment by the time of this article’s publication. 

However, this incident brings up an important practice for pedestrians when walking along the road. Walking toward oncoming traffic does a tremendous amount to reduce pedestrian accidents. Yet, I still see students walking with their backs to southbound traffic on the way to campus at times. 

Practicing good pedestrian travel safety makes the presence of oncoming motorists nearly inconsequential when one can regulate his distance. So personal responsibility is key. No state or administrator intervention can replace this form of empowerment that pedestrians hold.

Government’s Responsibility 

However, even the pedestrian must operate within an environment of clear rules. This is where the government and local regulators come in. The government’s responsibility is to establish and communicate clearly informed rules to the traveling public, both motorists and pedestrians alike, so that all travelers know how to interact with each other. 

In this respect, sometimes the basic rules of motorist travel and pedestrian right-of-way are enough to both clarify and govern the situation. For example, typical travel along Tyler roads require little more than a basic understanding. Here, motorists travel in the roads and pedestrians travel along the curb or sidewalk. Knowing where each traveler is supposed to be helps each party establish clear boundaries with one another to avoid injury.  

Problematic Area 1: University’s North Entrance 

Yet, what about when the traveling environment is more complicated than the basic scenario? For instance, what if it is like the scene at the University’s north entrance on Tuesdays and Thursdays? There, motorists enter and exit the north campus entrance, the nearby Foundry Apartments and the UT-Tyler Police Station on Varsity Drive. 

On top of this, pedestrians emerge from vehicles who park along the street to then cross to campus property. Plus, vehicles also leave from street parking and enter the roadway and there is no identified crosswalk or stop light to direct these travelers. This is a lot of activity!

Are basic traffic rules enough to direct the motorist regarding all these concerns along Varsity Drive? The challenges for driving along Varsity Drive can be concerning and the number of locations for pedestrian crossing are many. 

With such a heightened complexity to negotiating the travel concerns here, it requires greater clarity and assistance from traffic regulators. The situation needs a clearer structure and boundaries to mitigate pedestrian risk along this road and alert motorists of other traffic. Otherwise, both pedestrians and motorists face an increased risk of accident.

Given the amount of pedestrian traffic amidst many different types of vehicular travel, the University and City must act to clarify traveler roles at the north entrance and along Varsity Drive. The north entrance requires more structured interaction to reduce the risk to pedestrians given the heavy foot traffic at this location. 

Old Omen Crosswalk

Another area of concern has historically been the crosswalk on Old Omen Road. Installed in 2013, the HAWK light caused confusion among motorists. Its vertical post and flashing lights confused drivers about what exactly they were supposed to do when it commenced. The lights changed from flashing yellow, to flashing red, solid red and off. To some, it looked more like a train was coming through than that a pedestrian was crossing the street. Even up until 2016, student complaints were still unresolved

Finally, after some discussion on the subject, City officials moved the crosswalk’s location further south on Old Omen Road to its current location near student housing. The City also installed overhead lights in addition to the vertical lights, which students had been requesting, that better resemble traditional traffic lights. The University also installed new sidewalk that receives pedestrians away from the Main Entrance on Old Omen Road which had been a concern. 

At this entrance, crossing pedestrians were often overlooked by exiting motorists who were at times too focused on oncoming traffic to see pedestrians crossing in the crosswalk. The new location removes pedestrians far enough away from the danger of exiting vehicles. 

Since the crosswalk’s location change, student concerns seemed to be appeased—except, of course, that nighttime cloaked the new crosswalk location in pitch-black darkness until a student senator complained in a student government meeting with campus police in 2022. Police acted and the crosswalk is now well-lit. 

Bureaucratic Delay 

Now, notice that 10 years went by before the University and City partners got this crosswalk situation right. It seems clear that it takes a long time for the University to react to issues with regard to pedestrian safety. In fact, such slow-going, slow-reacting behavior is typical of bureaucracies, given their many layers of red-tape and hierarchy. They are typically slow. 

So, where the University has been able to act quickly, such as lighting the HAWK Crosswalk, it has. For this, the institution deserves commendation.

Nevertheless, the University has been far too slow to address concerns to student safety.
However, while administrators carry come blame for this, the chief blame lies with student government. It’s responsibility is to be a indispensable champion of student pedestrian concerns, which it has failed to be. 

Student Government’s Role

The University’s ineffective response, say with the HAWK Crosswalk, lies with student government’s failure to effectively advocate for pedestrian solutions. 

For example, over the years, student government provided no clear statement of expectation to university administration, saying that it expected leaders to recognize risks to student safety in the crosswalk, nor did it clearly identify the specific instances of concern for the administration, such as the blindness of exiting motorists to crossing pedestrians or of the confusion of the existing flashing lights to motorists. It also failed to lay out clear order of priority for how it wanted administration to address the problem, such as to first get an overhead light that motorists could understand or to ultimately move the crosswalk’s location. 

This kind of direction is critical to identify for administrators what ought to be the priorities for how campus authorities address student (pedestrian) concerns. Without instruction from the official forum of student opinion, then administrators are blind. They are mostly just guessing, and guesswork is no basis for decisive action. 

Pedestrian safety failed and still fails at UT-Tyler ultimately because student government fails to effectively advocate for this priority. Unless the official forum of student opinion communicates formally and with clarity—unless it identifies problems and lays out priorities—then administrators are mostly blind to productive action. Hence, the long delays in improvements for The HAWK Crosswalk. 

Student government must be a champion for pedestrian safety by effectively advocating for it among University administration. Student government must play this role or else pedestrian safety risks will continue to exist. 

Currently, pedestrian safety lags at UT-Tyler due to student government’s failure to advocate effectively. 

Problematic Area 2: University Boulevard

Finally, with respect to a last major source of pedestrian concern, is the frequent pedestrian crossing on University Blvd. Due unavailable on-campus parking, many students (and some faculty and staff) park across the street from Soules College in the commercial parking space near Icehouse Republic. Vehicles travel over 60 mph along this Texas highway without any site for pedestrian crossing. 

The University has publicly discussed the possibility of building a pedestrian bridge from campus to this location, but this was during former President Tidwell’s administration. I have heard no such talk of this since then.

There are also no designs of this in the former masters facilities plan from 2018, which Tidwell discussed, and which I obtained through an public information request. So, I do not know the status of the possible pedestrian bridge for now. 

However, a university spokesperson said Friday the institution plans to propose a new master plan to The Board of Regents this spring, and prefers not to discuss those plans until that approval. 

Nevertheless, there does not seem to be a decisive solution to pedestrian crossing on University Blvd. There are some attempts to provide transportation across University Blvd by a remote parking shuttle that services the old UT Health East Texas Behavioral Health center at 4101 University Blvd, but this shuttle runs on Tuesdays and Thursdays only. It does not service pedestrian traffic the rest of the week. 

The risk to pedestrian safety on University Blvd remains and it does not seem clear to me that a solution is alleviate this risk is on the way. Therefore, the situation on University Blvd presents another risk to pedestrian safety related to UT-Tyler. 

Whatever the solution, thankfully the issue is not without remedy. Plenty of state and university officials stand ready to help towards a solution. 

Nevertheless, the advocacy remains with student government. Without this leadership from the official student voice, pedestrian safety on University Blvd may go unresolved for a long time as it did with the HAWK Crosswalk on Old Omen Road. Student government must lead with effective advocacy.

Conclusion

Accidents such as Justin Bartie’s on Old Omen Road illustrate how pedestrians bear personal responsibility for their safety. In other words, it is up to each individual, motorist and pedestrian alike, to minimize risks to his own safety.

However, it is still unclear how Mr. Bartie could walk towards traffic and be unaware of an approaching vehicle. It seems to me that it is best that pedestrian students not walk in the bike line or avoid walking in the road altogether. Instead, perhaps they should travel within campus interior until they reach a city sidewalk or walk on the grass instead.

Bartie’s tragic accident is a reminder of the paramount importance of exercising situational awareness as a pedestrian. Always give yourself the best chance of safe travel.

For now, Mr. Bartie’s incident is a tragic reminder that infrequency of pedestrian accidents does not mean absence of pedestrian risk. Pedestrians must keep alert. Even if student government and University officials make helpful changes, pedestrian safety always and ultimately depends on one’s the individual's discretion.

While UT-Tyler made some improvements in recent years to improve student pedestrian safety, it still falls short of its public commitments in 2017 to make speedy improvements to pedestrian safety. I hope both The Student Government Association and The University of Texas at Tyler will work quickly to reduce pedestrians’ exposure to these kinds of risks in and around its campus facility.

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X: @Jhescock12

Related resources: 

KTLV: UT-Tyler student struck by vehicle, hospitalized

James' Old Blog: UT Tyler president urges caution, talks safety after Old Omen accident 

James' Old Blog: SGA members: Students unsafe at Eagle’s crosswalk; need traffic light

KLTV: Mother of UT Tyler Athlete in ICU is 'uncertain if he's paralyzed'

Feature Image: Justin Bartie in September 2018 via X account @BQS108.
 

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