Despite concern regarding parking lot safety, Officer Santos Rodriguez noted that currently, only two accidents have been reported this year. The accidents in question involved a parked car hit in the senior lot and a collision between students in the junior lot.

While that may sound like a low number, it is clear to see that people aren’t reporting problems that occur in the parking lot.

“I have taken only two crash reports. One from a staff member, and one from a student.” Officer Rodriguez said.

Staff Security Al Frank stated that a staff member’s car was hit in the senior lot, but the person who had hit the car left no information.

Eugene Yturralde (12) had seen a separate incident recently in the in the senior lot, in addition to the report told by security.

“I’ve seen two cars back into each other right here in the senior lot,” Yturralde said.

Juniors and seniors have made their frustrating experiences clear in the main parking lots. Between both classes, there are incidents, reported or not, in each lot.

Samuel Adkisson (12) expressed that he only really feels safe in the senior lot in the mornings, but only because he arrives in the lot much later than others. But, he had a different feeling regarding problems in the parking lot after school.

“Traffic is bad, and I just want to get home,” Adkisson said. “People just want to get out as fast as they can.”

This feeling was supported by Taysir Kannoun (12) who also typically parks in the senior lot.

“There’s a lot of people who think that they’re so cool with their cars, so they feel like they can drive however they want,” Kannoun said.

Adkisson noted that the senior lot is much better than how he remembers the junior lot.

“I hated the junior lot… People would just fly down the junior lot at like 100 miles per hour,” Adkisson said.

Jonathan Hiscox (11) agreed with the state of the junior parking lot, noting similar problems.

“I drive a big car, so it’s hard to get around or past people,” Hiscox said. “[the parking lots] have people backing up really fast or just zooming by.”

Hiscox also said that he has to stay aware of people walking throughout the already crowded junior lot.

Adkinson, Kannoun, and Hiscox also acknowledged the importance of awareness from both non-drivers and drivers. They noted that the lots are typically plagued with distracted pedestrians throughout the lot. People carelessly running through the lot, blasting loud music or crowd gatherings were a few examples of risky pedestrian behaviors

Hiscox and Kannoun both expressed the need for better enforcement of speed limits as well.

“10 mph is the speed limit in the parking lot… It’s a crawl when you think about it, and people hardly ever drive at 10 mph,” Officer Rodriguez said.

Both Officer Rodriguez and Mr. Frank noted that they felt that the junior lot caused more problems than the senior lot, but see and are aware of problems occurring in both lots.

“I have personally been [in the junior lot] watching people drive away… I’ve seen cars race out of here in all directions, everybody is in a rush to get out,” Officer Rodriguez said. “Juniors are usually newer drivers, so they have a tendency to make more errors.”

Security has noted that there hasn’t been a notable change in the number of accidents seen or reported over the years, but Officer Rodriguez and Mr. Frank want to ensure students report incidents in the lot that they are part of.

“If you make contact with another car, file a crash report… I’m not going to consequence someone for bad driving. But if [the driving] is reckless, then the school will [dicipline] that,” Officer Rodriguez said.