Hannah Balboni

Student traffic exiting the parking lot

Once the bell rings at 2:46, most students want to get as far away from school as they can, am I wrong? But for the students that can drive, find themselves waiting every school day in a long stressful line.

After school there are a ton of new drivers smushed into one area.

”It’s way too cramped, I feel squished, “stated Sarah Bounar. This makes the student lot traffic more accident prone. Students who have just earned their license aren’t always the best of drivers, especially under the stress of traffic.

DMV.ca.gov shows a statistic of 217 out of 1000 teenagers will get into a collision within the first six months of having a license. Multiple accidents happen in the student lot throughout the year, not just after school but before school, during lunch and during extracurricular activities.

On top of the parking lot being filled with inexperienced drivers, adding more cars to the problem when you think of all the parents who use the student lot as a pickup and drop off area for their child. Moms and Dads circulate the lot to find and get their child to and from school.

“I’m so glad I don’t drive yet,” says Junior, Angelina Warlich. “It takes forever and I’d be so upset if someone hit my car.” The parents have plenty of space to pick their child up at the front on village parkway and if they do not wish to do so there is also a office parking lot which they may fill since most staff normally don’t leave right after the “student day” is over.

The traffic is caused by all the students leaving at once so obviously it will move slow, if students get so flustered by it maybe we should simply stay at school and wait it out.

“ Its so chaotic because everyone is in a rush to leave, “ said Junior, Nicole Overton . Most student love to hang out and talk with friends after school anyway so why not just stay a bit longer to pass the traffic. But, in argument to that, Students are rushed off of school campus by campus security ten minutes after the bell, so how can students avoid the traffic if they are all forced to leave at the same time?

These last few years Dublin High has gained a huge amount of students due to housing being built throughout Dublin and the greatness of the school itself. But then every year as students enter their Junior year, the number of drivers in the parking lot increase with each class, increasing the inexperienced drivers, increasing the parents, increasing the number of accident, increasing the stress, Will the traffic only get worse?