Photo Credit: J.P Lawrence/ Times Union
Late on Halloween night last Saturday, three students were struck by a drunk driver downstate at Skidmore College. While crossing Clinton Street on foot near their campus, three first-year students were hit by an alleged drunk driver, according to The Daily Gazette. Of the three boys involved, only two made it through the night at Albany Medical Center.
The deceased, Michael Hedges, died only hours after the crash. Hailing from western Massachusetts, he attended elementary school with current St. Lawrence students before beginning his freshman year at Skidmore this fall. He had since been involved in athletics and volunteer work on campus. The two other students involved remain hospitalized at Albany Medical in critical condition as of Tuesday, TWC News reports. They are both being treated for serious injuries, none of which are expected to be fatal.
The driver, later alleged to have been intoxicated at the time of the accident, is now in police custody. 64-year-old Thomas Gorman will remain in Saratoga County jail while the community and two survivors heal. According to TWC News, he has been charged with driving while intoxicated and vehicular assault. The Saratoga County District Attorney Karen Heggen intends to file even more charges against Gorman in the near future. The Skidmore community held a campus-wide candlelight vigil on Monday and several other memorial services throughout the week to mourn Hedges. Counseling services are offered to all students. Several hundred people have attended memorial events to date, reports News10.
Student safety on public roadways is a constant threat residential college campuses face. Like Skidmore, SLU has also experienced vehicular accidents of this kind. In late 2012, a first-year student was hospitalized after being hit by a large truck while crossing Park Street at night. In this case, the vehicle was moving at 40 mph, over the speed limit for Park Street, and failed to stop at a marked crosswalk. After he was detained hours later, the driver in question was proven to be intoxicated. In the face of this constant hazard, SLU’s Safety and Security staff is persistent in its effort to implement and enforce student safety measures.
“Just like motorists, pedestrians are expected to follow certain rules of the road,”
said Assistant Vice President of Safety and Security Pat Gagnon.
“I send out a crosswalk safety bulletin [to students] periodically.”
Just last month, new LED lights were installed at a crosswalk on University Avenue. This lighting prototype is planned to expand to other roadway crosswalks in the coming semesters.
“The LED lighting at crosswalks reduces glare to vehicle drivers,” “We have also placed crosswalk marking cones at each of the crosswalks on Park and University.”
By New York State law, all drivers are required to stop at a marked crosswalk for pedestrians and slow their speed in school zones. However, statewide drunk driving fatality rates have still shown an increase of over seven percent since last year, according to Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD). This, coupled with the 30 percent of drunk driving deaths that comprise all traffic-related fatalities, leaves residential colleges still in persistent danger. Gagnon and the Safety and Security team encourage constant caution when crossing Park Street, University Avenue, or any other inner-campus roadway in the future, Gagnon advises students to “never enter a crosswalk until the vehicles approaching are stopped.”