The screech of brakes pierced the air as an unsuspecting pedestrian jumps back in surprise or a vagrant bicyclist swerves to miss an oncoming vehicle.

This scene is not uncommon on large pedestrian campuses like N.C. State, according to Capt. Jon Barnwell of Campus Police.

“Based on sheer volume of pedestrian traffic we have on campus that coincides with traffic, accidents are inevitable,” he said.

So far, during the fall of 2007, Campus Police has reported two major pedestrian-vehicle collisions.

The first reported incident occured on Oct. 25 at the intersection of Jeter Drive and Dunn Ave between a student driver and a University employee crossing the street, according to a Campus Police report.

Both parties declined comment about the incident or how to avoid pedestrian accidents in the future.

The second accident, according to Campus Police reports, occured Nov. 9 on Cates Avenue near Dan Allen Drive. Two students, who could not be reached for comment, were involved.

Barnwell said many pedestrian collisions likely go unreported, depending on the significance of damage.

Many near accidents occur almost daily, as is evidenced by calls to Campus Police’s citizen help line.

“There was a concern Wednesday about speeding on Morrill Drive,” Barnwell said. “So we ordered a patrol to run out there.”

Kenny Batts, senior in applied mathematics and chemistry, said he has seen and heard of many near accidents.

“At [University Towers], I heard that some of the girls have a tendency to get tapped by a car every once and awhile because they don’t look where they are going,” he said.

According to Batts, he had a close call with a bicyclist while driving his car.

“What gets me is the bikers,” he said.

Batts said the cyclist rode out in front of another car and then swerved to miss the car and a pedestrian.

“I saw a biker swerve and he landed beside my car,” he said. “I was like, ‘lock the doors.'” Batts said students on campus think they have special rights as pedestrians.

“People on campus, they think campus is a different world than the rest of it, because people just walk out in front of cars,” Batts said.

He said he witnessed this on a trip to New York City with other NCSU students when some in the group would walk out in front of traffic and get nearly run over by honking taxi drivers.

Batts said this behavior is foolish.

“[They are] worse than five-year-olds because every five-year-old knows to look both ways,” he said.

Batts said he thinks future accidents could be avoided if pedestrians were more cautious.

“People should use crosswalks and look both ways before they walk,” he said.

But Barnwell said while pedestrians need to adhere to traffic laws, just as vehicles must, people on foot take the right-of-way at crosswalks.

“The number-one priority is the pedestrian,” he said.