Considering many aspects, it’s fair to argue that the driving of high school students, and new drivers in general, is sometimes unsafe and or impractical. On the other hand, many forget about what causes the most frustration: parking.
When we say read between the lines, we’re not talking about your English assignment. Every day throughout the year, finding a PHS student parked just about any way but parallel to the intended lines is almost inevitable. Whether outside of the school in the student lot, dirt lot, or front sidewalk, creative liberty is in use, and it’s causing a dispute.
“I feel that people are taking up too much space in the front parking lot,” senior JJ Gardner said. “Some spots are occupied by one person when they could easily fit two cars. There’s no need for someone to leave four feet between their car and the one in front. In the dirt lot, you also don’t need three feet between each car; parking this way results in fewer open spots.”
To get closer to the school, kids will park in these close parking spots, which raises the likelihood of an accident. Leaving big spaces of room between cars may also cause accidents, as one may think they could fit when it’s actually just small enough that they can’t.
“I’ve been a witness to many accidents as a result of someone’s bad parking,” junior Brooklyn Neves said. “They hit another car with their door, they drive right against the side of someone’s car when pulling in or backing out, and they do this and then leave it. I’m just a girl, and I park better than them.”
Some students argue that the bad parking is done on purpose. Especially now, considering people are easily available to take a photo of it and share it with others, students choose to park rather horribly just to get a reaction.
“I think it’s unthoughtful and unnecessary when my peers don’t park in a parking spot or park extremely crooked on purpose,” senior Rayona Rathie said. “A little crooked is okay, but when they go out of their way and park in two parking spots, half their car being in a front parking spot, then the other half is in the parking spot behind them, it’s very unnecessary. Or when they park at the end of a parking aisle where there is no parking spot, and they just think they created one, it’s unnecessary.”
More than anything, the main reason behind the parking at PHS, is the effect of new drivers. Their inability to keep consistent with the lines or spacing isn’t a show of their character more than it is their lack of experience.
“I used to be one of those people, but I started coming early, so I wasn’t the issue,” junior Elaina Kousoulos said. “I rage quite a bit when I walk up to the spaces when there’s a 10-foot gap, or a space wide enough to pull up, or just small enough that it takes up too much space.”
Students have come up with many different ways to solve this issue. Whether they’re effective is yet to be found out.
“We can fix this by having everyone understand you are not the only one parking and you need to consider the other 400 students in our school that need to park,” Gardner said. “If you aren’t responsible enough to park properly without lines to guide you in the front, or you’re inconsiderate and think you need three spots, then you can go park in the student parking lot so you have lines to help you.”
More ways have been thought of to solve this issue, but they involve less understanding from the other person.
“I feel a way to fix this is being able to leave notes on their cars telling them “hey, you parked stupid, fix it or I’m making a citizen’s arrest,” Rathie said. “Also maybe shooting them with a water gun or even an orbeez gun will do, so it hurts alot more and then they won’t do it again, hopefully.”
