.. BEEP, BEEP, BEEP, BEEP… it is like a constant echolocation becon for the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. The new crosswalk technology at UNCC has been running for several weeks now. At first it seemed like the idea might actually catch on, you want to cross a road, so you press a little buttom to get a safe crossing signal, and traffic gets a red light, sounds like a good plan, right? It might work for crossing a busy state highway, or even a city street in uptown Charlotte, but how useful is it for a lightly traveled university road? During the first few weeks of school, people actually pushed the button, waited the amount of time (since the commanding voice behind the button demands “WAIT!”), and then crossed when told it was safe. Now, several weeks later, things have changed, it is very rare that anyone actually use the electronicly assisted crosswalks. It would appear that the students are rejecting this new technology and that we have gone back to the old way of doing things on campus, if a pedestrian is waiting to cross a road, vehicles stop and let them cross, if someone is already in a crosswalk, vehicles wait for them to finish crossing. Similarly, if vehicles are moving on a road, pedestrians tend to wait for the vehicle to pass before entering the crosswalk. It is all very simple and easy to work with, especially since there is a university-wide understanding of what is expected when it comes to pedestrian/vehicle and goose/vehicle interaction. Why use a beeping box of horror when humans already do it better?