Students dash to their cars before honking their horns like madmen and backing up without even a glance at their rearview mirrors. They cut each other off, steamrolling over the grass before picking up their friends, Starbucks orders in hand. One student blocks traffic and accidentally opens their trunk, all during a lightning storm, right before they almost get hit by a school bus.

 

This anecdote may be an exaggeration, but I’ve witnessed all of these things (separately) in the warzone that is the student parking lot.

 

The upperclassman privilege to park on campus is an important milestone of independence, but any new driver excited by the idea of commuting to school every day is bound to be disappointed by the student parking lot. It should be a symbol of freedom, but instead it’s become an overcrowded no man’s land.

 

As a magnet school for the second-largest county in Florida by area, we are plagued by transportation issues. Bus and Tri-Rail routes can only reach so far, so driving is the best option for many students.

 

However, the school parking lot just isn’t enough to meet the demand. Parking passes sell out faster than Ariana Grande concert tickets, but even with regulated access, the parking lot frequently overflows. Students often park on the grassy medians of the lot, absolutely packing the place, and the coveted spots by Palm Beach State College, which allow drivers to exit through the teacher parking lot, are almost always full by the first bell. As a senior with a free period in the morning, I’m often met with a jam-packed lot with few options to park. Some students face these limited options by parking on the street at a hefty fee or at the Tri-Rail station, which only makes the traffic situation worse.

 

Even if students are able to find a parking space, getting out is another issue entirely. By 3:45 p.m., the lot is already backed up, a problem directly linked to the traffic of the surrounding area. New businesses in downtown West Palm Beach have led to a daily army of slow drivers on Fern Street, even before the hundreds of students trying to turn left out of the parking lot become involved. In my experience, unless you rush out within the first few minutes (or ditch class early, as some rulebreakers have started doing), you’re likely to be stuck until 4 p.m., which is when the bus loop exit by the teacher parking lot is opened.

 

This has resulted in a mad dash for the exit every day. There are definitely still some safe, kind drivers, but they only contribute to slowing things down, and the behavior of the bad drivers affects us all. Even I’m not immune to the stressful environment — to the teacher I cut in front of last year, which caused me to get called into Student Services the next day, I’m very sorry, whoever you are.

 

Damage is frequent — put 200 or more student drivers together in one lot and see what happens. This insurance nightmare only makes the parking lot more of a dangerous environment, and I feel trapped when I should feel relaxed after a long school day.

 

I don’t expect the parking problems to go away anytime soon. Traffic and reckless teen drivers are two facts of life. But to those reckless drivers, I beg of you, learn to give someone else the right-of-way once in a while. And while it may be too much to hope for the installation of new traffic lights (or the demolition of a couple of the downtown office buildings), school administration could make the lot a much better place with some regulation of parking passes. 

 

The parking lot is always stressful — but make sure to seek a solution before you road rage.