On Friday, Nov. 14, right outside the high school property was a small crash. It didn’t block people from continuing their way out of the high school; the two cars managed to park off on the side. No one was hurt, but one car was hit, and part of the front came off. This raised the importance of traffic after school gets out.
Sophomore Clinton Brandon was one of the few who witnessed the small crash outside the high school property, stating that he saw “An old lady rear-end a teenager, break her bumper, and stop his tire.” This raised his concerns about after-school traffic because “if it can happen to someone in a car, would it happen to us kids crossing the street? We could get hurt.”
After-school traffic gets crazy, and kids want to go home as soon as possible. Students all have been like that, where they want to go places as quickly as possible, but students should be careful about leaving the school grounds. Teen drivers, especially 16-year-olds, have a crash rate per mile driven that is about three times higher than that of drivers 20 and older. Not only are teens at a higher risk, but so are people who have just gotten their license. Though five teens die in school zones each week, that’s five too many. Speeding is also the most common traffic violation after school, along with using phones, running stop signs, illegal passing, and failing to yield to pedestrians. There has been a 13% increase in pedestrian fatalities among teens aged 12-19 since 2013.
That raises the question of how the school ensures the safety of staff and students after school. AHS Principal Heather McKay said, “We have individuals who are outside for it, it’s kind of like their hall duty assignment. So they report any reckless driving. Officer Sandy is typically out there. And we have notified the police.” Well, there aren’t many plans to improve the parking lot, crosswalks, or entrances and exits, McKay did say, “I know the West parking lot was just redone. The South parking lot was just redone, as far as improving the concrete, et cetera. In the East parking lot, there are plans for that. I don’t know when that is going to happen.” McKay also mentioned that they have “taken away parking privileges from students where they can’t park on school grounds because of reckless driving.” Unfortunately, they aren’t able to “catch everybody that they would like to be catching to improve safety.”
McKay said that some improvements she’d like to see to make dismissal safer are “First and foremost, students taking accountability and drive like they were taught. As I said, we’re trying to explore different options that we had talked about, where, before last year, I didn’t have adults posted outside at all. Last year was the first year we had done that.” Another reason they got the radios is for this reason: so that whoever sees reckless driving can radio it in right away, and get information on the situation. McKay mentioned that “We’ve talked about installing speed bumps. There’s just a lot of ideas circulating right now.” Though when McKay was asked if there are any plans to redesign traffic flow, update signage, or adjust dismissal procedures, she said, “Not currently, no. But that doesn’t mean there couldn’t be.”
McKay mentioned that ways to understand better about staying safe during dismissal include: Stopping at stop signs, listening to the speed limit (Which is about 15 and below in the parking lot). She also said, “Parking lots are the most dangerous spot. I don’t care if it’s here at school, if it’s at Walmart, they literally are. People do not pay attention.”
Including that in driver’s ed, there are those defensive driving points that Mr. McKay or whoever the head teacher is would give students, but “You have to be vigilant… So you’ve got to be aware, don’t be on your phone, have your seatbelt on. Especially because we have a lot of little kids who get off the buses around 3:25 or 3:30 who come up here to meet their parents who work in the building.”
McKay admitted that she would “Hate to think if a little kid in or by schools, or other parts of town, has been hit by a distracted driver. That would be horrible. Absolutely horrible. Even if it was a high schooler or a teacher or anybody,” she doesn’t want “anybody to get hurt in that way.”
