Your Idle car spews exhaust as you wait in the car line wondering if you are going to be late to your morning math class. Most kids in Mount Vernon High School come to school via car, and most of those kids have to come early to school to avoid the long car line. This long car line stretches sometimes to Caseys past the roundabout.

If you happen to get caught in this car line you may wait anywhere from 15-20 minutes.
This car line is especially bad during snow and rain. Some of the solutions we currently have are to ride the bus, carpool, or arrive at school earlier. The truth is our school needs a better way of dealing with the problem that is making many kids late to class every day.

If you live in Mount Vernon a drive to school should be no more than 10 minutes meaning you can leave anytime before 8:05 so as not to be late for class. If you run into the car line though, a 10-minute drive can easily turn into a 20-minute drive. The school morning traffic is just as bad as the after-school traffic as hundreds of students quickly race to their cars to leave. The school traffic is not only an inconvenience for the students, it also is a safety hazard to anyone crossing the street.

Some solutions include hiring someone to direct traffic before and after school to increase the flow of traffic. Activities Director Matt Thede has helped sometimes with the flow of traffic when it gets really bad, but that has only happened a few times in the past. We can also expand or build more roads to also increase the flow of traffic. The road can come from the back of the school, or we can add more lanes to the existing road to allow for a faster flow of traffic.

Our school may not have the worst traffic in the state, but most kids who drive to school would say that it is a daily inconvenience to arrive and leave the school.