Students avoid danger in chaotic parking lot after school
Poorly designed front entrance and impatient parents cause traffic build up, longer wait time
March 8, 2018
Driving down South First Street is already a gamble of whether or not you’re going to get hit, but adding 20 cars parked along side and on the road itself is a recipe for impending disaster.
People coming to pick up students who park anywhere and everywhere they want because “it will only be a minute” are making the front of the school dangerous.
The driveway up to the school has two lanes, both of which are supposed to be moving lanes — as in you’re not allowed to park there.
No one seems to care when it comes to that rule when school is over because both lanes are full of cars waiting to pick people up only to wait some more while trying to get out of the huge traffic jam.
People also park in the Austin city bus pick up zone. These people make life more difficult for the students who ride the bus because the city bus has to wait until the cars move out of the way.
Students who are walking out of the school face the danger of parents who don’t pay attention to what’s in front of them because they are to busy looking at their phones or looking for their kid.
They just blindly try to speed forward after their kid gets in the car so they can get home, leaving safety in the hand of the people who have no control over the 4,000 pound machines hurtling at them.
There’s only so much looking both ways can do when faced with reckless drivers. The most threatening obstacle drivers face is attempting to leave Akins to get onto S. First Street.
The row of parked cars in the bike lane severely obstruct the vision of those needing to head south. When a driver grows tired and desperate of not knowing if their desired lane is available to enter, they take the tremendous risk of venturing into the street.
Making this decision without certainty endangers the lives of those in possession of the lane and those leaving Akins.
There is only one exit onto S. First St. where an Akins staff member is sometimes stationed to help direct traffic at the peak time when school lets out.
Until the city of Austin installs a traffic light in front of the school we need more administrators and/faculty to help protect Akins students and our community. Furthermore, the hazard of parked cars in the street needs to be eliminated.
If we have people regulating traffic at the exits, there is no need to disrupt outside traffic by parking in that lane. This will also prevent the volume of pedestrian traffic since students won’t have to cross various lanes to reach the edge of the street.
