Rodrigues 1

Jessica Rodrigues
April 17, 2011
English 102
Professor Williams
-You Should Never Have to Walk Alone-

I come from a large, yet single parent household. I am a graduate of Hudson High School

in the small town of Hudson, MA. Back at home many people say I am a very kind, outgoing and

a determined student. Many of my friends from high school have said that I can be very

persuasive and that I have my ways of getting the truth out of people, because I am very

trustworthy. Currently I am attending Bridgewater State University to get my bachelor’s degree

in Criminal Justice. I did not come from a privileged family by any means and everything I have

it is solely due to the fact that I worked for it with the moral support of my family to keep me

going.

In high school my best friend Kristie and I would frequently go for runs around her quiet

neighborhood, just the two of us. We would have so much fun because it gave us time to talk

when we were catching our breath, and time to cleanse our mind with fresh airMy favorite time

to go for runs was during the evenings in the summer. It was the perfect weather because it

wasn’t dark out but the sun wasn’t burning your back or making you sweaty and it was breezy

but the cold wouldn’t burn your throat from breathing with your mouth open. Looking back

now, that night we should have left for our run earlier or just stayed home. Before leaving her

mother said we needed to be back at the house by 8 the latest, just before it got dark. We lost

track of time. I remember we were walking up a road not far from her house, sharing her ipod

and I saw a light blue truck with a white bedcover and snowplow go by, I didn’t think much of it

until we saw that same truck drive by us 3 more times. We had never been in more fear than is
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imaginable. Even though we had the others company while walking we were still a target, two

young women walking in the dark of the night.

Coming to college, out of all the advice I have received from grandmothers, uncles, and

older male cousins, the piece I found most important is to NEVER walk alone at night and if it is

inevitable, to always walk with more than one other person just in case anything were to

happen. It is unrealistic to stay inside my residence hall all night and finding more than one

other person to walk with to my desired location in the late hours of the night. Being a

freshman at Bridgewater State University we are not allowed to have cars so the Safety Escort

Service provides us with transportation to any building on campus for free.

I decided on Bridgewater State University because out of the other colleges I toured,

BSU possessed a certain comforting quality known as the Safety Escort Service. It is the duty of

Safety everyday starting from 7.P.M. through 3.A.M. the next day to respond to requests by

students as well as transporting them from the location of pick-up to their location of drop-off.

All students have to do to utilize the safety escort service is call the safety escort service line at

508-531-1745 from a cell phone or dial extension 1745 from any phone on campus and state

the location of where they would like to be picked up. From experience, on the weekend, when

safety is busy there is usually about a ten minute wait for pick up. From Thursday to Sunday

there is a high demand because there are more students trying to get from one place on

campus to the other but there are only four vans and one bus to drive, pick up, and drop off all

students requesting service on campus.

I became interested in observing the Safety Escort Service after a friend of mine had

mentioned how hectic it can get on certain days of the week such as Thursdays, Fridays, and
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Saturdays due to weekend festivities occurring on or around campus. They have also

mentioned that seats in the vans are quite often occupied by male and scantily clad female

students heading to a point within walking distance of their desired locations which have said

to be party houses. The goal of the Safety Escort Service is to provide a safe way to get around

campus for all students during the hours that the regular shuttle bus is not running.

I have used safety a hand full of times to get me to the library and Burlington coat

factory but never really experienced incidences that safety escort drivers experience every

weekend such as students wreaking of marijuana, alcohol and acting in a rambunctious

manner. However, while I was riding on Safety, one night a female student from the same

residence hall as me was flirting and joking around with an attractive male driver. The jokes and

gestures were innocent and did not seem to bother the driver since he went along with them as

well. It has made me curious as to what drivers overhear and experience during their shifts.

Questions I have regarding safety would be who is allowed to drive these safety escort

vans (students or any joe schmoe who applies)? What are popular pick-up and drop-off points

during the weekend? How does a safety escort driver handle situations where students are

clearly under the influence of a substance but not to the point of puking? I would also like to

observe how safety escort drivers determine who will get which call-ins for pick-ups because

many students have felt that safety was “ignoring” them.

The Safety Escort Service at Bridgewater State University is made up 4 vans and one bus.

The service is supervised by the BSU Police Department and employs BSU students in both work

study and non-work study jobs as drivers and dispatchers. The drivers are trusted students of
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Bridgewater State University that have undergone thorough background checks and a driving

test to ensure the safety of the students.

February 28, 2011, 9:00 p.m., I made a call to the Safety Escort Service to be picked up

outside Woodward, my residence hall. About five minutes pass and a white, fourteen passenger

van pulls around the corner and turns on the yellow flashing hazard lights to signal upon arrival.

I open the door and step into the van; I noticed there were two other female passengers

buckled in along with the safety driver. While asking for the drivers permission to ride along for

part of the night, one of the girls answered for him and said it was fine and mentioned many

people do it often and they have no problem with it. During my ride, I discovered the girl in the

passenger’s seat was a friend of the driver and was also a employee of the safety escort service.

After making sure there were no more pick-ups to be made at Woodward, we headed to the

Art building to pick up a call. I noticed during my ride along that the driver had been listening to

a country station so I assume he is a fan of that type of music. One minute after the dispatcher

made a call, a pick up at Woodword resulted in the driver doubling back and picking up a boy

and a girl, they were carrying a backpack. After the girl said “Shae/Durg” to the driver, which is

a nickname for the conjoined freshman residence halls called Shea and Durgin, the boy

mumbled a sentence to the girl and she replied with “Sean told us to meet him at Shea/Durg”, I

made an assumption that they were going to study since they carried their bookbags with

them.

A friend of the driver riding in the passenger seat was pleading for him to make a

personal pick-up for her friend waiting at RCC, the Campus Center. After a pick-up for two at

RCC, a drop-off for two at Shae/Durg and three pick-ups at the tower lot, the driver was headed
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back to RCC to pick up their mutual friend. At that time a tall boy carrying food in aluminum foil

was on board safety. As soon as he was dropped off at his destination of Shae/Durg, the driver’s

friend mumbled “thank god” and the three friends responded with a giggle over the terrible

odor the boy gave off, it was a smell of rotten eggs. Still on the topic smelly odor, the safety

driver replied in a joking manner, “Smelly people shouldn’t be allowed on safety.” We all just

smiled and laughed. I presume the driver felt comfortable with the group on the van because

he then shared his strong dislike for girls who wear too much perfume. The discussion between

the driver and his friends came to an end when he received a call by walkie talkie from the

dispatcher for a pick up of two at Pope Hall. While driving to Pope Hall, the blonde girl in the

passenger’s seat was very talkative and pointed out that she knew everyone currently in the

safety van except for me.

Five girls were then picked up at Pope due to a second call that came in for three. He

was already currently at Pope Hall so they hopped into the van instead of waiting for the next

to disembark. One of the girls entering the van was on crutches so the person sitting closest to

the door closed it behind her and placed her crutches at her feet.

The girl on the crutches along with her three friends each stated their destination, “Hunt

Hall,” as they boarded and the driver remained quiet. I heard them say “is he even listening?”

as he mumbled respectfully “yeah, hunt”. At that moment he created a mental note of pick-ups

and drop offs out loud which went as follows: Woodward Hall, Hunt Hall, Front of Maxwell

Library and Scott hall.

Finally he continued his route to Woodward Hall, my place of residence. As he was

slowing down in front of Woodward hall, the girls remaining on the each repeated again in a
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more stern tone “HUNT!” The driver just sighed, flipped on the yellow flashing lights and came

to a complete stop allowing me to safely step out of the van.

At 10:09 p.m. the next night, I was picked up at East Hall by a female driver that I was

familiar with. She was listening to rap and occasionally singing along with the songs as well.

Walking up to the van, I noticed students seated by the windows glaring at me because they

had to wait as I crossed the street to board. The bus that night was jam packed with only a

couple of seats to spare. In order for passengers in back rows to let the students sitting on the

right side out of the van, the other passengers had to step out of the van to make room for a

comfortable exit. Her route was as follows: a drop off of two at pope and two at the back of the

library before arriving back at Woodward. As we pulled came to a stop, the driver made a call to

the dispatcher about arranging her “relief” to meet her at hunt hall. I assumed it was for her to

receive a break as a result of the long night ahead of her.

The safety escort service as well as its drivers provides students with a safe means of

transportation during the late and most fun-filled hours of the night. It gives students the ability

to get from one place on campus to another. This eliminates the student from having to trudge

across campus in the various weather climates New England has to offer, as well as avoiding the

fear that someone may be following them in the shadows. Safety does its job of doing just that,

keeping students safe through providing free transportation; all they have to do is ask.

The Goal of Safety Escorts at BSU

The goal of the Safety Escort Service is a free way to provide students of all ages, with or

without cars, transportation everyday of the week from 7pm to 3am. In the beginning of the

school year, a Bridgewater State University student was seriously injured after a motor vehicle
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struck her at 6pm while walking across the street. It is the goal of BSU to keep their students

safe in school and safety makes achieving that objective easier. This objective is met because

they are able to provide such a secure and useful service to their students.

-Expect the Unexpected -

Many students depend on the safety van to get them from Point A to Point B during

different days of the week and various weather climates. I have witnessed Safety being elbow

to elbow, with students and their tightly sealed water bottles in hand, and smelt students who

have reeked of marijuana on Thursday nights. There is a wide range of diversity among the

students who utilize the escort program; some with leg injuries, some who have smelled really

bad, and some who were blatantly rude to the drivers because they were showing off in front

of their friends. Many students riding on safety talk in hushed tones about private matters

about who they just got back from seeing, where they are going to party next and how they are

going to get their friend who is too intoxicated to walk on their own into their residence hall.

One night while I was observing in a Safety van the driver went to Tower Lot to pick up

students, one in particular who boarded was a tall, thin, male carry something wrapped in

aluminum foil and smelled quite terribly. As he boarded he stated his destination of Shae/Durg

and the ride over was silent, you couldn’t even hear someone breathe. After two drop-offs at

Pope and Scott Hall the driver’s friend, who rode in the passenger’s seat, mumbled “thank god”

and let out a deep breath. Both of them laughed it off innocently and the driver jokingly asked if

he can “kick people off for smelling”. The driver also mentioned how he does not enjoy when

women wear too much perfume as the smell lingers in the van and becomes unbearable.
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During my observations I befriended a few of the drivers who were open and welcoming

of my purpose in sitting along for the ride. This allowed me the chance to talk with them and

hear of experiences on safety as a driver from a different view point. Many of the drivers listen

to the radio or their own iPod because sometimes the sound of a person’s voice bothers them

as well as their personal conversations. Many times students will request to put on a certain

music station and if the driver is nice enough they will, but most often since the driver is stuck

driving between the hours of 7pm and 3am with a quick bathroom or 20 minute break in

between, they like to listen music of their personal likings.

-Through the Eyes of A Driver-

Recently I had the opportunity to speak with a safety dispatcher at the location of the

BSU Police Department. Isabel, an active BSU student, was very welcoming to the idea of my

interviewing her and observing safety. I first began with asking her how long she has been with

the Safety Escort Program and found out that she has been working with safety for 7 semesters

and received the job as an owed favor from a Lieutenant to her older sister after her wallet was

lost and never found. Initially, Isabel began employment at Parking Services but when Safety

needed her help her temporary switch transformed into a permanent position. She then

informed me that she enjoys working as a dispatcher when people are kind in requesting safety

and as a driver when other students compliment her on doing a great job because it makes her

feel like her role in Safety is important and that she matters. However, some days she feels as if

her place working for Safety goes unappreciated when students call and hang up, call

repeatedly because they are impatient, and call to complain that “safety is taking too long”. She

also noted that such occurrences are most common on the busiest nights of the week which
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she explained were Thursday, Fridays and Sundays due to off campus parties, students coming

from bars, and the need to get to and from the Tower Parking Lot. She states that on busy

nights she can “barely put down the phone for a second before it rings again, and it could go on

for more than a minute”.

Isabel, then took me into the responsibilities needed to ensure that safety is running

smoothly which includes answering the escort’s phone line, completing the safety escort

dispatching log and the daily ridership counts. I asked Isabel about her views regarding Safety’s

hours of operation and its usage by students. She stated “It really bothers me when I see

people using the escort service out of laziness”, because she understands how busy they are

and feels that in most cases if people were to walk to their destination they may already be

there if they were not waiting for a van to pick them. She also believes the proper way to use

the assistance of the safety van is when students are carrying boxes or bags, are physically

injured, or the weather conditions inhibits the students ability to get around campus safely. I

asked Isabel to take me through a memorable experience on a night she was working, she

began to explain an instance where a student once seated himself in the passenger’s seat,

which she feels is always uncomfortable for her, started talking to her as if they had been long

time friends and in addition, went as far as asking her for her cell phone number to go out

sometime.

John, one of the few certified drivers of the large bus, has been with the Safety Escort

service for two semesters. I got to know that he is a geography major which heightened my

curiosity as to why, out of all the job opportunities on campus, he chose to drive safety. I was

surprised at his response of “I’ve always wanted to work for safety, since I was a freshman, I
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just thought it was the coolest job ever, plus I’m a night person so the hours are really easy for

me”. As John was driving to pick up at the location of East hall, my question pertaining to what

he thinks about safety was temporarily interrupted. He slowed down and jerked the steering

wheel to the left to avoid the “Yield for pedestrians” sign in the middle of the road, he said “I

hate those things, they are so annoying because they always move out of place when people hit

them, like look right there” and he pointed to yet another sign, which was dented and hanging

lopsided. I thought it was funny because those signs are not something the smaller passenger

van drivers have to worry about.

Reverting back to my question, John said he feels that the Safety Escort at BSU is

important in keeping students safe “especially girls because they should not have to walk alone

at night, it is not safe for anyone to walk in the dark by themselves”. He added that one night in

particular, to this day, stands out to him because a sober, female passenger chatted him up and

said “you’re the bestest safety driver ever!” and asked him for his phone number. I asked him

what he would do in the event that a drunk student boarded safety and he said it is part of his

job to radio dispatch and ask for a health and safety check using a code word because even

thought the student is not in a dorm or building, they are required to follow school policies

regarding suspicious behavior. He also said that he would not want to have to clean up puke

even though it is easier on the bus which has a water hose for that particular purpose. As we

were driving back to the west side of campus and passing Burrill Ave, I was curious to know why

the BSU shuttles were permitted to drive down that road but Safety were not. He answered my

question, the same question many passengers of safety have, with “at night when safety runs,

there were a lot of people running everywhere, and they used to dodge in front of Safety vans
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randomly, from what other Safety Escort drivers have told me”. There were also complaints

made by residents of Bridgewater and it becomes a liability issue since it is a hot spot on

Thursday nights and many students stumble.

As we were driving by the set of lights on Summer Street I noticed that John turned on

his hazard lights when another Safety van drove by, even though we were not stopping for a

pick up. Before I could ask him why he did that, he told me “turning on our lights is our way of

saying ‘Hi’ to each other since its dark and we can’t see when the other person waves”.

-Students’ Safety Always Comes First-

I recently interviewed a female friend whose view on safety is that “They take you

everywhere and back”. She told me she boarded safety around 2:50am after a night out and

“everyone was intoxicated. Safety was so packed we had to lap up, because no other van

wanted to come”. Normally safety is prohibited from driving if it has reached capacity because

it is a safety concern if passengers are not able to buckle-up if they choose. However, since it

was close to 3am the other vans were headed back to park for the night and end their shift. She

enjoys using safety because she knows she will get home safely no matter how long it takes, it

beats walking by herself, disoriented, and in the dark of the night.

-Headed Home-

After several rides using the BSU Safety Escort and interviews with students and

employees it can be assumed that many students find it beneficial. During the nighttime,

popular weekdays and poor weather conditions the BSU Safety Escort achieves its goal in

providing students with a safe and free way of traveling across campus. When students need a

ride, who are they going to call?...Safety!