Pay attention.

In sports, life and especially when driving, everyone should be paying attention.

Recently around the campus, there have been accidents involving pedestrians and moving vehicles.

While all parties involved should be subject to blame, drivers are always taught at driving school that pedestrians have the right of way.

But that is not always true.

Once a pedestrian steps out into the street, they are fair game, as is any car that pulls onto the road.

A pedestrian is always told to look both ways before crossing the street, but drivers are always taught to stay alert, especially when coming upon a pedestrian attempting to cross the street.

Many pedestrians are known to step out in front of a moving vehicle and expect it to stop, just as drivers see a pedestrian and expect them to stop, knowing it takes more for a two-ton vehicle to stop than it does a pedestrian.

With the surrounding area having a set speed limit of 35 mph on Redondo and Manhattan Beach boulevards, and Crenshaw Boulevard at 40 mph, many drivers could care less that a pedestrian can step out into the street anytime in an attempt to cross the street.

For years, the surrounding area has been somewhat of a speed trap, with officers from Gardena, Torrance, EC and the California Highway Patrol roaming the surrounding areas, enforcing the speed limit as well as the traffic signs, just like the ones when leaving campus that read ‘No Left Turn.’

With parking costs on campus rising year after year, many students have chosen to park for free, which causes them to walk to their vehicle after their classes have ended.

Many park as far, sometimes even farther than Doty Avenue and Manhattan Beach Boulevard and have to walk across the street just to access their vehicle.

Even school children from St. Catherine Laboure Catholic School on Redondo Beach Boulevard walk through Alondra Park to get home.

The crosswalks have always been known as the safest place to walk, but when a vehicle does not stop, or fails to see the pedestrian, it can be a fatal mistake. Many incidents where pedestrians are stuck are not reported, leaving authorities wondering who was at fault.

At random times, and frequently, people can be seen running from their parked car across the street in an attempt to get to class on time. But those running pedestrians are taking an unsafe approach to crossing the street. With drivers and pedestrians in a rush to get places, they often don’t pay attention to their surroundings.

Maybe the police should make more of an effort to cite jay walkers.

But something set in many people’s minds is that pedestrians ALWAYS have the right of way. No matter the circumstance, a moving vehicle should always pay heed to a pedestrian.

Many pedestrians pay attention to the moving vehicles, assuming whether or not it is safe to cross the street at that time. Many drivers pay attention to those pedestrians waiting their turn to cross the street.

But when people do not pay attention, they sometimes wind up hurting themselves, and sometimes other people.

The best thing to do in all situations, whether it involves operating a motor vehicle, crossing the street at a crosswalk, or just going about your normal day to day life, is to pay attention.

It makes a lot more sense to prevent an accident by looking both ways before crossing the street.

The safe thing to do is to assume that drivers are not paying attention, therefore people crossing the street need to make sure that they have made eye contact with drivers before crossing the street.

It may sound like elementary advice, but these are simple guidelines that we somehow seem to forget in our search to better ourselves at college.