NIU’s campus is moving toward a safer Annie Glidden Road.

DeKalb’s Public Works Department awarded a $54,255 contract to Virgil Cook and Sons on Aug. 27 to be used for a temporary traffic light at Stadium Drive and Annie Glidden Road.

The city also approved $105,000, which will be matched by NIU, to go toward the installation of four lighted crosswalks on Route 38 possibly as far south as Hillcrest Drive, said 6th Ward Ald. David Baker.

Baker is working with city engineers to improve lighting on Route 38, where poles already are in place.

“And I wouldn’t mind seeing the speed limit dropped maybe 5 miles an hour on Annie Glidden,” Baker said.

Jamie Garcia, vice president of the Student Association, suggests regulating traffic at stoplights.

“Back home where I live you cannot turn right from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on a red light,” Garcia said. “That is near a high school.”

He also compared driving habits of young people his own age to those of older drivers.

“Young people think nothing can hurt them, but I could fall asleep when my dad is driving. I feel very safe with him,” Garcia said.

Baker believes pedestrians are a problem too — he watched orientation leaders walk against traffic lights with groups of students.

“Orientation — I think that’s where the problem may be nipped in the bud,” Baker said.

University Police Lt. John Hunter thinks some students believe the pedestrian always has the right of way.

“The Rules of the Road is only a guidebook. You have to know the law,” Hunter said.

In Oct. 2000, then-SA president Ken Getty planned a safety campaign to create awareness. Garcia said the SA currently is not working on orientation safety awareness concerns. Nor is there any other SA-sponsored pedestrian safety educational program in place.