The Lakeland High School parking lot is known to be open during lunchtime and after school. From teenagers who have just gotten their licenses to older drivers with road rage, it is a stressful time trying to get in and out of the parking lot.
With all of these disasters come accidents and fights. Many of these accidents are caused by teens not paying attention or blind rage from the other drivers.
The cause can also become the effect in some of these cases. Drivers decide they have had enough waiting and that it is their turn to go, cutting off another student.
Incidents like this causes other drivers to lose their temper. Some words are usually said, and an occasional middle finger is raised.
“Getting out of the school is really stressful sometimes, and people are super impatient,” LHS student Lauren Peterson said.
While many of these accidents are usually seen or caught, most of the time, they do not get reported. Hit-and-runs are common in the LHS parking lot.
Most teens do not want to admit they hit someone’s car, let alone confront them. If the other driver is not in the vehicle, teens assume they can get away with a hit-and-run, and most of the time, they do.
“I think kids are embarrassed to report that they hit someone,” LHS armed guard John Hatcher said. “A lot of them leave because they are scared and do not know what to do.”
Other accidents in the parking lot happen because the drivers simply do not pay attention. There are lots of things that can distract teens while driving, especially in a parking lot, like phones, changing the music or other passengers.
Drivers will typically back into another car or pull too forward when trying to park.
Some get tired of waiting to turn left out of the parking lot and just go, which can cause brutal accidents. Letting people in at the turning lanes causes miscommunication during the off time.
“The left turning lane out of the school is one of our main focuses,” Hatcher said. “We are contemplating whether or not to take it out.”
The lack of parking spots for the growing population of LHS is another complaint among students.
“It is going to get real bad here in a couple of years because we have more students getting their license and coming into our school, but we can not expand our parking lot or stop the traffic,” Hatcher said. “The only option would be to get a new school.”
If students do not get here soon enough, they will have to park far away, and if they get here later after a free period or an appointment in the morning, they may not get a spot at all.
Due to this, many students have been making parking spots. This causes plenty of accidents itself. Making their parking can block other students from getting out, make the cars too close, and cause others to hit a mirror or sideswipe.
“I think it would help if people did not park in spots that block others’ view,” LHS student Ella Terzulli said.
Many students have become aggravated by the lack of parking and inexperienced drivers. It has also started to cause a rise in the number of parents who come to pick up their kids.
Getting stuck in traffic for an extra thirty minutes after school and having to deal with drivers who are inexperienced and temperamental is no one’s idea of a good afternoon.
“There are a lot of bad drivers at our school,” Terzulli said. “Teens just need more experience and to slow down.”
In the two years I have been driving at LHS, my car has been hit in the parking lot three times, with only one of the accidents reported.
The first two accidents involved someone either backing into me or hitting my car, pulling out of the spot next to me.
On April 10, my car was caught up in a hit-and-run. During the school day, while I was taking my SAT, my car got hit, and the driver left a decent-sized dent in the far back of my car on the driver’s side.
I noticed it after a track meet that night when I came home from school. The accident never got reported, and there was no note.
I looked at the cameras with Officer Hatcher, and we could not find who had done it. My car is also new, and it was aggravating that someone did not report it.
