University towns get busier with students back

While drivers are watching out for schoolchildren and buses, an older generation of drivers will try to cope with going back to college. As classes resume at Iowa’s institutions of higher learning, Ames police sergeant Mike John says they bring their own traffic hazards.As students migrate back for class, they do see the accident rates go up, especially with this summer’s construction. Lincoln Way in Ames, a major thoroughfare, is torn up for construction. Johns says other kinds of calls go up this time of year, too.Noise calls increase, as kids who haven’t seen each other get rowdy recounting their summer adventures. And the cars driven by college kids are sometimes the target of crime themselves.There’s some rise in vandalism and thefts, things like car stereos. Year-round residents in college towns know what to expect when the size of a city doubles with the returning students, and some of the students are used to the change, too.He says some who are new will have a steep learning curve finding out what’s allowed in the neighborhood where they find themselves living. Johns says with a little patience, traffic in Iowa college towns will settle down in a few more days or weeks.