Brittany Cassidy

Prof. Wright
ENC3331-0M02
Proposal
Why Did the Knight Cross the Road: a Project Proposal
For my project relating to civic engagement, I have chosen to
focus on pedestrian safety around the UCF campus. While there are
some issues with pedestrians directly on campus, most crashes and
fatalities have occurred on roads just outside of the UCF campus. There
seems to be a general lack of caution from both drivers and
pedestrians around the UCF campus. Accordingly, my civic
engagement project aims to raise awareness about pedestrian safety
in an attempt to help resolve the issue.
The first research I will most likely need to engage in is to delve
into the Florida laws that govern pedestrian safety. I will need to
carefully read and interpret the different sections of the Florida
Statutes regarding pedestrian safety, including both people on bikes
and skateboards as well as normal walking pedestrians. I will also need
to fully understand what the Florida Statutes say about the rights of
pedestrians versus the rights of vehicles on the roadways. More
specifically, it is necessary for me to know if vehicles always have to
yield to pedestrians or if there are certain situations in which
pedestrians must yield to vehicles as well. Once I fully understand

what the Florida Statutes say, then I will need to read and understand
the same aspects of the county and municipal laws that may apply to
pedestrian safety in the UCF area. More specifically, if there are any
county or municipal laws that make crosswalks or pedestrian rights
versus vehicular rights different near a university. By understanding
these laws, I will acquire both ethos and logos that may assist me
going forward. When possibly talking to institutions such as the UCF
Police Department in the future, it is important that I have as thorough
of an understanding of these laws as they do.
In order to address pedestrian safety in the UCF area, I will also
need to do a substantial amount of archival research. I will need to find
out how many times pedestrians have been hit by cars on roadways
such as University Boulevard and Alafaya Trail in recent years. I will
also need to find out details such as how many of these crashes
resulted in actual deaths, the time of these crashes, the state of the
drivers and pedestrians involved in these crashes, where exactly the
crashes took place, and what was done after these crashes occurred. I
will most likely do this research through news websites and archives
from institutions such as The Orlando Sentinel, Fist Coast News, The
Florida Department of Transportation and Knight News. This archival
research could help me in the future in several different ways. One way
would be in the discovery of different victims stories. If there is a
particular person who was subject to one of the fatal crashes who has

a more interesting or heart-wrenching story, I could possibly use

their story as a source of pathos within my argument. I could also use
the statistical numbers gathered regarding rates of crashes, etc. to
bring awareness to my future audience. If the numbers for these
occurrences are unexpectedly high, then people will be more apt to get
involved in the cause.
As mentioned before, the main goal of my civic engagement
project will be to raise awareness regarding pedestrian safety around
the UCF area. This being said, I will need to first gauge the level of
awareness that is already present within the student population in
order to determine the amount of awareness I need to bring about. To
do this, I plan on conducting a survey in which I present some of the
numbers regarding pedestrian crashes in the area that I obtained
through my archival research to students in order to tell if they were
aware of the severity of the issue before. I feel that it is also necessary
to include some subjective questions as well such as: Do you follow the
crosswalk signs posted at crosswalks around UCF? Or; When travelling
around campus (no matter what the mode of transportation) do you
feel safe and confident? By asking these subjective questions I will be
able to get the general idea of how the student body feels about
pedestrian safety as a whole, not just if they are aware of the issue.
Using a survey, I will be able to gauge the need for pedestrian safety
within the student population and have legitimate and up-to-date

numbers regarding the issue. In order to conduct this survey, I plan on

standing outside of the student union and surveying 100 people from
the UCF student population with the questions that I come up with.
With this survey comes the need for additional research. I will need to
speak with a representative of UCF in order to determine if I am
allowed to conduct a survey outside of the student union. If I am not
allowed to conduct the survey there, I will need to figure out where I
can conduct the survey. I will also need to determine if there are any
waivers or disclosure forms that will need to be filled out by the
participants and how to obtain those if needed. This survey will
rhetorically assist me with both ethos and logos in that it will provide
me with credibility because I conducted by own unbiased and up-todate survey and some of the most recent facts regarding awareness of
the issue on campus.
Once I have completed all of these steps towards researching the
lack of pedestrian safety around the UCF campus I will be able to more
accurately analyze and plan actions regarding it. The combination of
researching Florida Laws, archives of pedestrian and vehicle crashes,
and surveying UCF students will arm me with the ethos, logos, and
pathos needed to construct a firm and persuasive argument in the
future. With this research in hand I can formulate an effective plan for
the future actions I will need to take in order to address this civic issue.