?The screech of brakes. The shatter of breaking safety glass. The sickening thump of a ton of steel colliding with frail, human bodies. This was the scene last semester when a bus rear-ended a Mini-Cooper stopped at a crosswalk on Morrissey Blvd, catapulting the car into two students crossing the street. Other than a broken foot, the two luckily walked away with minor injuries. Yet still, months later, traffic laws haven’t changed on the UMB beltway and the victims fear that they may not be the last to fall prey to the perilous pedestrian crossing. “No one stops unless there are crossing guards. And the bus drivers still barrel around the campus center – half the time they’re not paying attention to the road,” one of the students hit by the Mini Cooper, Emma Franco said recently. However, most UMB students don’t agree with Franco. In fact, 76 of the 100 students interviewed for this poll said the speed bumps near Wheatley Hall should be removed. “You can’t go over the speed bumps at 25 miles an hour. You’ll break an axel,” said one student. Even though 25 miles an hour seemed like an appropriate speed limit to most students – 82 in our poll – 77 students said they regularly break the speed limit. “You don’t realize how slow 25 miles an hour is, especially when you’re coming off of Morrissey onto a four lane road. It feels like you’re crawling,” another student offered. “The cops here can be ridiculous too, with the tickets. I know it’s the speed limit, but really. They just sit there waiting for us to go one or two miles an hour over it and give out tickets. They’re trying to make a quota,” said one student in a small group talking in the cafeteria. Other students in the group agreed – two had been given speeding tickets on campus in the past year. But when asked if any of them had ever gotten a ticket for going less than five miles over the speed limit, they all admitted they hadn’t. “Especially when you’re leaving campus, you just don’t pay attention to your speed,” one said. For this week’s poll we asked three questions: Do you think that 25 miles an hour is an appropriate speed limit on campus? 82 said they seem fair. 18 said the limits should be 30 or 35 miles an hour. No one thought that a slower speed limit would be productive. When you drive on campus do you follow the speed limit? Only 23 of the people polled said they follow the speed limit on campus, and 77 said they didn’t follow it all the time. Do you think the speed bumps are useful to remind you to go slower, or are they just an inconvenience? 24 people said the speed bumps are useful, reminding them to slow down, while 76 said that they should be removed. In general the people polled seemed to see the traffic laws on campus as pragmatic suggestions. They are useful for most people, but should not be strictly enforced.