After a busy day of schoolwork, WCHS students are ready to head home. For many, it is imperative that they get home quickly to finish homework or start extracurricular activities. If a WCHS student drives to and from school, they should expect the drive to be quick, after all, there is a limited amount of parking spots available in the student parking lot. However, what should be a short drive has grown into bumper-to-bumper traffic thanks to one factor: parents.
Every day without fail, parents line up around the parking lot, waiting to pick up their children. Their cars sit in the middle of the parking lot until their child arrives, increasing traffic for actual students. It is already difficult for students to get out of the parking lot when 200 other students are trying to do the exact same thing. However, when parents block the road traffic becomes even worse. Those who should be able to quickly exit the school are forced to sit in their cars rather than simply driving away.
Although this is problematic, it would be forgivable if parents had no other choice. However, WCHS has a visitor parking lot specifically for dropping off and picking up students. While this lot is small, if parents only plan on being there for a few minutes it would not be an issue. Considering the fact that the visitor lot is very far from the student lot, the extreme traffic these parents cause could easily be prevented.
Aside from the fact that these parents are causing major inconveniences, they are also creating safety concerns. According to the National Highway and Traffic Safety Association, in 2021, drivers aged 15 to 20 made up 8.4% of drivers involved in fatal crashes, despite making up only 5% of licensed drivers.
Teens at WCHS are inexperienced drivers, many have just gotten their license and are still navigating the technicalities of driving. This adds another obstacle and further complicates the situation. By allowing parents to stay in the student lot, students are put at a higher risk of an accident occurring. Parents of WCHS students should be more cognizant of the safety risks they are causing by waiting in the student lot.
Furthermore, students pay an exorbitant amount of money for these parking spots: a single pass costs $78! These parents do not pay anything, yet inconvenience paying students by clogging the parking lot when there is an easy alternative. Even worse, these parents often park in empty spots left by those who manage to quickly exit the parking lot at the end of the school day, even though these spots are paid for by WCHS students. For high school students, $78 is a lot of money and many use their part-time jobs to pay for this, but this hard work is wasted due to inconsiderate parents.
There are many easy ways to resolve this problem. This mainly includes utilizing the student parking lot, but if parents picked up their children at 3:00 instead of 2:30, traffic would be virtually nonexistent. Parents could even simply try driving less aggressively and letting students exit the parking lot before they do to mitigate traffic.
Overall, WCHS staff should be more observant when it comes to student parking. If they see parents clogging the student parking lot, they should encourage them to utilize the visitor lot or just wait a little longer. There is no reason for parents to not listen to this advice as it will benefit them too. Nobody wants to be stuck in endless traffic with a bunch of inexperienced teenage drivers.
However, it is doubtful that WCHS staff will attempt to resolve this issue. In the meantime, students who are picked up by parents should try to explain to them the problems they cause when they park in the student lot. By directly explaining this to them, this issue can quickly be resolved and safety can be ensured.
