With students heading back to school, freshmen parents and new drivers have caused a fair amount of confusion in the student parking lot.
The six-week period between the end of May and middle of July, has seen many students graduate to fully licensed drivers now able to drive to and from school. This has made students annoyed and agitated by the congestion as most are trying to get home or get to class. One could argue that this caused 2 car accidents within the first full week of school.
Freshman parents have also not been without their fair share of causing congestion. Being new to the school, it’s no shock that most of these parents have not been to the school before and are struggling with navigating it as any normal person would. However, another possible reason some of these parents have been causing congestion is their excitement and joy of their child starting a new school year and marking a milestone in their life with their first day of high school. This has led to many parents, who otherwise would have been efficient in dropping their child off, being so overwhelmed it affected their driving.
Congested parking lots and roads ultimately lead to more aggressive and dangerous driving as well. According to the National Institute of Health website, a study was done with drivers being put in a congested and non-congested situation, the drivers in the non-congested areas tended to be more relaxed and aware of their surroundings, whereas the drivers in the congested areas struggled with being aware of their surroundings, had more aggressive traits and more focused on the forward area than the dashboard area.
Ultimately the congestion will likely begin to get better as Freshmen parents and newer drivers go into the school year and begin to become more familiar with the school and its layout. This is a cycle that is going to continue each year due to the fact that no matter how hard the school or anyone tries, they’ll never be able to get freshmen parents more familiarized with the school. Therefore, there really isn’t much of a solution to the problem which is for the most part seasonal.
