Last Thursday, on October 24, NASH students embarked on the usual drive to school, awaiting to park in either “Main” or “Ghetto.” However, students quickly realized a slight problem: the entrance of Main was blocked off by several orange traffic cones. Drivers were forced to change lanes and proceed straight to get to either parking lot. This was not a problem for myself, as I arrived early enough to avoid the mass of cars. This proved to be a problem for many students, though, including my friends, who entered the school campus at a later time. The constant stopping to let pedestrians pass did not help as the bell loomed near; it only caused a huge line of traffic still present once the bell rang for first period at 7:24 AM. 

Students thought that they would receive an excused tardy, as logistically, this event was caused by the school, on school property, and caused inevitable traffic. They were quite wrong, as they soon found out. The school attendance office marked all students late to school as unexcused, which understandably caused students and parents alike to be upset. Their reasoning pointed to the code of conduct signed by all students when purchasing a parking permit.

According to the NASH parking permit agreement, “If a student is tardy because of traffic congestion, it is considered an unexcused tardy. Student drivers should allow ample time to drive to school and be in their first period classes on time.” 

Students were curious as to why the new orange cone additions were there, and they soon received an answer. The school decided to try out something new to ensure pedestrian safety when crossing the sidewalk to go inside the athletic entrance. I, personally, do not understand the need for extra safety precautions. From what I have noticed and observed almost daily for over a year, student drivers are extremely cautious and careful when nearing crosswalks to ensure that all students cross safely. Students always drive slow and make sure the road is clear before proceeding into the individual parking lanes. 

The school has continued to enforce this new procedure to the present day, except for one change, presumably to relieve the traffic issues. Now, instead of completely blocking off one entrance to all of Main, the cones are placed in the middle allowing traffic to flow into the first two parking aisles only, but still obstructing the crosswalk. This has caused another problem, which I think causes an even bigger concern.

Most student drivers are too lazy to enter at unblocked entrances or through the back way. Students tend to cut through the teacher parking spots and into the back aisles that are blocked off by the cones. Being a responsible driver, I enter the back way and drive the opposite way as these students. I have noticed that most drive very fast or in the middle of the lane expecting no one to be on the other side which could cause potential head-on collisions.

I am not completely convinced that these new safety rules actually enforce safer measures, as more careless incidents may occur from now on. Oftentimes, if something works and is efficient, there is no need to change it. As the old saying goes, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”