Bye Bye Parking Permits

If you’re a driver at Highland you know the infamous trick of getting out of the parking lot quickly, exiting out of the entrance. It’s right in the middle of the parking lot, its big and can fit two cars, and it makes getting to lunch a lot easier and quicker. These past few months, you might’ve seen assistant principal Mrs.Grisley standing at the entrance after school, assuring that people do not exit out of it. If that has bothered you, I would be cautious on using that as an exit from here on out, as the administration has begun revoking parking permits from students who are caught using the entrance as an exit.

The administration also now monitors the entrance use through the school cameras.

This may be annoying, but it when it comes down to it, its effective and it makes sense. When it comes to the parking lots traffic flow the two exit points and the one entry point keep things safer, if they are used properly. Although all points do get congested during morning hours and after school hours, the short term congestion is better than the many car accidents that can arise from a car exiting through an entrance while a car is entering. In addition to the cars in the parking lots, through certain points in the day, we have buses that come in and out of our parking lot. Buses are obviously bigger than regular cars and require more space to maneuver through entrances and exits.

When someone is exiting through the entrance after school lets say, and a bus is entering, the person exiting has a complete blocked line of sight on one side which could cause an accident considering the fact that they may not see an oncoming car. Also, the bus is now limited to the space it has to enter which could cause an accident, or create no way of it entering.

To the many drivers who are used to using the entrance as an exit this may seem useless, but it’s for everybody’s best interest. By enforcing this, it will keep students and pedestrians safe, and if a permit is revoked it will remind the student not to use that as an exit point in the future. The administration has no malicious intent on doing this, and it does display the normal consequences of disobeying traffic laws.

“Students are exiting out of a clearly marked entrance,” administrator Jason Kirchner said, “we are enforcing this for the safety of the students and the pedestrians.”

Kirchner and Mrs. Grisley will continue to stand by the entrance in hopes to not have to revoke too many permits. In addition to that, they will be monitoring the cars that use the entrance as an exit during time where buses are flowing in and out through the cameras, and/or if they see someone. Kirchner did state that they aren’t enforcing it as heavily during non-bus times as they do during bus times. But, it is better to be safe than sorry and get out of the habit of misusing the entrance. Better to be able to keep your parking permit, and not get in a car accident.