Pedestrian safety is a hot topic on the SOU campus after the death this week of Gladys Jimenez, a student who was killed while crossing the street, The Ashland Daily Tidings reports in this morning's editions.

Thursday was a day of mourning on the Southern Oregon University campus for Gladys Jimenez, the student who died after being hit by a car in a crosswalk last week. It was also a day of frustration and anger over why it took such a tragedy to address pedestrian safety.
University officials purchased 35 neon orange flags Thursday to install at five crosswalks along Siskiyou Boulevard in front of the campus as an immediate solution to the problem. Students can carry the flags with them as they cross the street to make themselves more visible.

Several other cities, including Berkeley, Calif., Salt Lake City and Kirkland, Wash., have used crosswalk flags to increase pedestrian safety.

Officials put the flags into use this morning, and plan to purchase more of the 18-inch banners as soon as local vendor Cantel of Medford, restocks.

The school has also begun conversations with the city about more long-term solutions.

"We are deeply concerned with the safety on Siskiyou Boulevard," said Craig Morris, the interim vice president of finance and administration. "We would like to see improvements in lighting on the boulevard. We'd also like to see some improvements to the crosswalks."