Vehicles and Pedestrians

Western is primarily a pedestrian campus with beautiful brick walkways, squares, courtyards and other people-friendly areas at its core. The core was designed to facilitate pedestrian access and circulation around the campus, and to provide a sense of peace and inspiration for learning.

There has been an apparent increase in the number of vehicles (University and others) utilizing the pedestrian core for transporting and parking. It sometimes seems as though some vehicles are not using the core out of necessity. The result is a co-mingling of pedestrians and vehicles, creating potential hazards to pedestrians, and interfering with the peace and quiet of academic endeavors in nearby buildings.

The Associated Students, Campus Safety Committee and Central Health and Safety Committee continue to be advocates for pedestrian safety.

Several approaches have been taken to limit vehicles in the campus core:

• Vendors on campus have been informed that driving vehicles onto the core of campus is inappropriate.
• Contractual arrangements developed in the past several years have included this precept.
• The Facilities Management Department, with the largest number of university-owned vehicles, has a policy restricting access to the core of campus during transitions between classes.
• A group of University administrators has prepared a long-range approach to improve pedestrian safety, including driver education, a survey to determine parking requirements for necessary services, and long-range planning.