Casey Petty
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Photo by Krystin Baker. Chase Petty's car. Matt Dilger, a sophomore on campus, knows this answer all too well. This semester, his truck was hit while attending class. Worse, when he called Police Services, they told him, "It was a non-reportable accident."
"The officer wouldn't come up to the lot to take down any information. I had to go out of my way to find the car that hit me," Dilger said.
Not only that, but the damage caused to his vehicle was excessive.
"Someone hit my truck causing $2,500 worth of damage."
Lucky for Dilger, he happened to find the vehicle that hit him and made the owner pay.
But what if someone else's car gets hit? Would they be as lucky?
Chase Petty, a freshman from Idaho, wasn't as fortunate.
Chase saw who hit him and he reported it to Police Services. He filed a claim with his auto insurance. Yet, he's been left to pay for the damage himself.
According to Chase, the individual who hit his car denies ever hitting him. Police Services did nothing saying once again it is "a non-reportable accident."
Chase has no options now but to sue. Lawyers are expensive, not to mention, the hassle of going to court is downright unbearable.
Couldn't this have all been avoided?
Isn't there a way to make the Penn State Hazleton parking lots safer for students, staff and faculty?
Dilger believes the campus can do more.
"We need to make the parking spaces bigger, and install cameras in parking lots. Also, Police Services could be more helpful when incidents happen," Dilger said.
At Penn State Hazleton, the sad truth is this -no vehicle is safe. With finals just around the corner, the minds should be focusing on the books, not the safety of the vehicles outside.
So what can a student or anyone else do?
Students should talk to their SGA representatives about this issue.
Let them know you want your vehicle to be safe and accident-free this holiday season and thereafter at PSU-HN.