By Meagan Ginnaty-Moore, staff writer
Many sophomores, juniors, and seniors drive to and from school every day. Every single one of these students use the student parking lot at the exact same time, entering and exiting the same entrances. At the same time, school buses and city buses and parents are driving in the exact same places, trying to drop off and pick up kids. Just how functional and safe is this whole setup?
Kristen Holden, a Communications Academy junior, drives to and from school every day.
“It gets kind of dangerous,” said Holden.” Everyone is trying to get to the exact same place and not everyone is super safe about getting there.”
Holden said that the worst time to drive in the parking lot is in the afternoon.
“I feel like there is no sense of order. People use the middle lane like it’s a one- way street when it’s not. I try to make a left turn and someone comes zooming up,” Holden said.
She is also frustrated with the parent drop off system. When using the little road on the side of the parking lot, parents will sometimes drop off their kids even though they are supposed to drop them off in the roundabout, she said.
“It’s annoying because you’re just sitting in a long line that’s meant for students but then you stop and wait for some kid to get out and get their stuff together and then the parent has to get going,” Holden said.
On the other end of the spectrum, Karina Rea, a General Studies junior who gets dropped off by her dad, says that the parent drop off can get just as frantic as the student parking lot. She also gets frustrated by the lack of control there is in the parking lot. Karina feels that the security is not doing enough to police the traffic and that could be dangerous.
“No one follows the pattern that the administration established. Parents go wherever they can find space, though I don’t think there is enough room to do anything else,” she said.
When asked what should be improved to make the parking lot safer, both Holden and Karina said that there should be more security and more exits.
“How can order be expected when the only two out of the three exits are open at the end of school and those two are only accessible through one small exit that is used wrong?” Holden said.
Maria Kotz, Indian Trail principal, and Anthony Casper, Indian Trail assistant principal, both agree that everyone needs to do their part in making the parking lot safe. Because the school size was smaller before the general high school was added, the parking lot was not built with a student body of 2,300 students in mind, Kotz said. There is also not enough security to cover all areas of the parking lot, but students are encouraged to report reckless driving. However precautions can be taken to make the parking lot less stressful.
“…if I was a young or inexperienced driver, I would leave a bit earlier, so that when I arrive, it was not as crowded. And at night, I would leave a little bit later,” said Kotz.
Casper asks for all students to obey the traffic flow of the parking lot. Failing to do so can result in a ticket or losing parking privileges. He also gave information on what the rules and regulation of the parents drop off system are.
“Parents are allowed to park in the student lot if they are going to be here long before the bell. However, doing this can increase the congestion when leaving,” said Casper.
Parents are not allowed to stop in the side lane to drop off their students, he said.
All of these rules are given out in newsletters and announcements. There is also an example of the traffic flow that can be found on the school website under parents in the downloadable forms.