By The Roar
To fight through school-zone traffic only to arrive at a swamped parking lot is like a slap to the face. Especially when it’s 7:56 am, and you have a biology exam to study for and a latté to drink. This would seem to be an inevitable situation, but it’s not. Parents still feel the need to drop their children off in the front, and it’s a rather unpleasant and hazardous experience for everyone involved.
Every morning, the entirety of Coronado’s driving student body pursues the parking lot, only to be blocked, harassed, and obstructed by hordes of thirty and forty-somethings fighting their way out of the parking lot. Students with relatively little driving experience are put into a situation of high stress as they dodge every minivan in sight, recklessly whipping around corners before gaps in the line of parents close up. Parents are irritated and potentially late for work.
According to school police personnel, approximately one student is hit in the parking lot every year, which is one too many. Vehicles without the intent to park pose an extra risk to pedestrians as they weave in and out of countless cars.
While there is a parking permit policy, it is not regularly enforced. Many students go without parking permits for months, sometimes even years. Parents that enter the parking lot have not signed liability waivers as the registered students have. A legal issue is thus presented on top of added stress.
An officer was recently placed at the main entrance to the school parking lot. He works to regulate the traffic, as well as act as a crossing guard. There is no reason for parents to enter the school parking lot. Rather, they can drop off at the designated zones, trusting that an over fourteen year old can handle crossing the street.
Coronado should work to enforce its own rules by requiring a parking permit to enter the lot, as well as ticketing vehicles who park without one. Everyone is then held to the same standards of conduct, obliged to follow the speed limit and park appropriately.
It’s truly a matter of safety that will also combat morning stress. While traffic jams cannot be avoided, unnecessary risks to students can be.
