Despite only one accident occurring in the WHS parking lot, students observe the reckless and obnoxious driving before and after school hours. Some students see the reckless driving in the school parking lot as a problem that needs to be addressed.

  Junior Kylie Guyette reports that she has had experiences of reckless driving in the parking lot.

  “I have had two people almost hit me because they weren’t paying attention and either started backing out while I was driving behind them or they pulled out in front of me.” Guyette said.

  “I have never experienced an accident in the school parking lot, but there have been a few times that someone will pull out extremely fast in front of me, so I have to slam on my brakes,” senior Alexis Riga said.

  “Last year, I witnessed someone rear end someone,” senior Austin Reynolds said.

  Some students might think of the parking lot as unsafe.

  “I don’t think the parking lot is safe, I feel like some people are just so eager to leave that they don’t care about anyone else’s safety,” sophomore Kyra Kleihauer said.

  “I feel that the parking lot is as safe as the people in it,” senior Rickie Branson said.

  Some of the unsafe behaviors going on in the parking lot include students messing with other people’s cars, speeding, and erratic driving, including drifting on the gravel, and trying to beat the busses out of the school parking lot.    

  Assistant principal Billy Daleske said this parking lot behavior will not be tolerated.

  “Students who are reported or observed to be driving in an unsafe manner while on school property are at risk of losing their driving privileges,” Daleske said.

  Staff and administration have observed some of the reckless driving recently and think it should be solved.

  “I see reckless driving in the parking lot all the time. Once I saw a student driving backwards in the school parking lot at a high rate of speed, I immediately turned it into Mr. Luebbert,” Special Education teacher Debbie Easley said. “I think to solve the problem, the school should supervise the parking lot. By supervise the parking lot, I mean we should have staff watch the parking lot and take names of the students who are driving recklessly.”

  “Students should slow down, be more aware, and don’t get distracted by phones, radios, and friends,” principal Randy Luebbert said.

  Staff took what they saw and thought that something needed to be done about the students’ reckless driving. Every day before students are released, there are announcements recognizing the parking lot rules. Staff members think that announcing the rules will help remind students to drive respectively when they are leaving.

  Overall, there are many ways that these problems can be solved. First, the drivers should wait to leave the school until 3:05 after the busses have already left. Another way the students can improve the safety of the parking lot is that the drivers can drive slowly, watch for other cars and where the gravel road and the paved road meet, students should file out of the school one car after the other. Student drivers should also be courteous and always think safe to avoid accidents.