Opinion by Josh Jordan
You have a busy morning. You brushed your teeth, combed your hair, and raced out the door. Just when you get through the roundabout, you stop and wait. Finally it’s your turn to go, but when you get onto the school property, there is no parking space open so you park on the street. By parking on the street, you have just created a safety hazard. If a larger vehicle needs to come through and a student needs to go through, you think they can just pass each other, right? Wrong. Since you had to park on the street, your car blocks the way and now precious time is wasted trying to get past each other without an accident.
Students know this all too well. If you don’t beat the rush before or after school, then you’re stuck waiting 15 to 20 minutes just for the chance to leave. If you’re lucky, you will get a parking spot. If not, then you will have to park on the side of the street hoping no one hits your car while driving through.
A good solution to the problem is prohibiting people that live near the school from driving to school. This would limit the amount of people coming to school by car, which would decrease the amount of traffic coming and going to school. It would also increase the amount of parking spaces available and decrease the amount of pollution created by all of the cars. People who live near the school but decide to drive are only making the problem worse.
What about winter time? Would the students have to walk out in the cold all the way to school? Some could get a parent to drop them off in the mornings or carpool with other students. But if they can’t get their parents to drive them or they can’t carpool, then too bad. Students already have to walk to school in the winter time every day. Making a few more students walk to school would only have positive effects, besides the student complaining.
By making more students walk who live closer to the school, it would give drivers more parking spaces, reduce that amount of traffic, and reduce the amount of pollution even if it’s by a small amount. Please students, make it safer for everyone. If you don’t need to drive to school, then don’t.
