This week, getting a free coffee can be as easy as crossing the street. That’s because KSUPD officers will be at random crosswalks offering coupons to people who cross correctly, not looking at their phones.

“Across the nation, we’ve seen an increase of car accidents and car-pedestrian accidents because people were on their cell phones” said Community Resource Officer Tricia Knoles.

After a soft launch last week, an interactive resource fair was set up on the second floor of the Student Center Tuesday by KSUPD, Kent Police, Portage County Safe Communities and AAA to help bring awareness and remind people to be more mindful of their surroundings.

The Wait 2 Txt campaign is the first of its kind for Kent State and has the intention of bringing attention to pedestrian-involved accidents. Knoles hopes the campaign will encourage students to put their phones down and watch where they’re going. It will run for three weeks.

Students can see the effects of this campaign all over campus. Dining Services and Tree City Coffee have agreed to sponsor the event, offering free coffee coupons and using coffee sleeves with the “Wait 2 Txt” logo on them. Monitors in the Student Center also have the logo.

TV2 will also be helping the campaign conduct the “Chewbacca Test,” looking for students walking on campus looking at their cell phones and asking if they noticed walking past a person in a giant animal head.

Guido’s Pizza, Hungry Howie’s, Papa John’s, Pizza Fire and Little Caesars are all sponsoring the campaign too, placing flyers on their boxes for the next couple of weeks.

KSUPD hopes to bring the campaign back for a week at the beginning of fall semester.

David Williams is the safety reporter. Contact him at d[email protected].