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The High Arrow

Indiana Area Senior High School

Student Life: Parking and Traffic

By NICK DRAHNAK

Recently, the spring parking season has started.  The student parking at IHS is something that has been chaotic for years on end.  The morning traffic is always bad.  Students can sometimes have a hard time squeezing into the narrow spaces.  And when leaving, if students do not bolt out to their cars, students are often trapped in their spots until an opening clears as a line begins to form of people waiting to get the hand wave to proceed.  Only if you are in the senior lot can you beat all the traffic.  You must be a senior of course.  When I first started driving, I was not the greatest perpendicular parker.  I also had a brand new vehicle and was not taking any chances in terms of getting any “dings” or “dents”.  So I parked in a gravel parking lot across the street.  Now I could care less as there’s more important things to stress about.

Photo by Nick Drahnak

The chaos occurs in the student lot after school everyday.  As previously mentioned, if you do not bolt out to your vehicle you will be trapped.  Once the line forms, it will be that way until all the buses and parents are cleared through by school staff to leave.  And the minute it does clear up, either 20 people put it in reverse at the same time or someone walks behind you just as you think it’s safe to go.  Another reason why it is absolutely vital to be aware of your surroundings.  I reached out to a number of students with questions such as what their thoughts were of the whole current situation and if a certain change should be made.

When asked, Junior Lauren Schweissing said “I think they should’ve made the parking lot wider instead of going away from the building. I wasn’t exactly happy with my parking spot but it’s better than nothing. I think that students who leave for ictc should have closer parking spots. And I leave from ictc so I don’t really know what the dismissal situation is.”  Junior Emmy Davis told me “I don’t like my new spot because I don’t like parking on the right.  I think it would be nice if they could somehow make it so student drivers don’t have to wait so long in the parking lot to leave school.  And I don’t think there is a point in letting student drivers out 5-10 minutes early because everyone would still be trying to get out at the same time.” 

And Senior Lauren Vu responded “To be honest, it’s pretty decent. But I think it could be better. I really wanted a parking spot in the back lot (“senior parking lot”) but I can never get one. Apparently it’s reserved for athletes or something like that…. It wasn’t very clear, but I don’t really mind where I am right now. But if we wanna pry out the negative stuff then it’s the part where we get out…. I know the security guards try their best to let us out, and are just doing their job, but when the buses are waiting for students to get on, some of the security guards (depending on who and what day…) let the parents go out first!! I don’t mind waiting, but the parents or drivers on the other side can go at any time… they don’t have to cross traffic while the student drivers do. Even when there aren’t any cars passing by, sometimes they’ll let the parents go, which makes me kinda upset because duh….. they can go out  when the traffic is coming because they don’t cross traffic!!! Anyways…. That’s probably all I have to say.”

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