In a school of 2,037 students, the parking lot is bound to be a warzone, especially a parking lot full of new drivers and impatient parents.

The arrows on the pavement do little to quell the madness of rush hour between 7-8 a.m. and 2-3 p.m. Students with far-away parking spots get stuck in the traffic and stay in a standstill for at least 30 minutes every afternoon. Blood pressures rise as seniors swerve and honk in a mad frenzy to get home as quickly as possible. This disorganization has led to multiple instances of accidental bumper cars.

Back in January after the end of the first semester a battle for the “first come first serve” parking spot lottery took place in the Commons. Hundreds of seniors dashed through the halls after the final bell of the day rang. Administrators and security guards struggled to manage the overwhelming mob of people fighting to get in first. Students knowing the consequences of getting stuck in a bad spot only amplified the urgency and determination in the race to sign up. The events of that day only foreshadowed the attitudes that would persist in the parking lot throughout the second semester.

Senior Ella White recalls a chilly January morning when she was driving to school talking to another senior Gabby Wright on the phone. Wright was behind White as they pulled into the parking lot, and like most second-semester seniors, both were running late to first period. “I had slowed to let a walker cross the street when all the sudden I heard a bang and my car jolted,” White said.

Wright had rear-ended her. Immediately Wright got out of the car and began profusely apologizing. “I totally didn’t realize I was that close to her. All I was thinking about was getting to school,” Wright said.

Wright had arrived late and been caught in the back of the mob when trying to get a second-semester parking spot. Her spot was in the far corner of the lot. “I thought that the first-come, first-served rule would help me get a better spot than first semester, and it just ended up being worse,” Wright said.

Wright also had another experience prior to this event when another student scraped her front bumper trying to pull out of their space. “It’s unfortunate, but this parking lot is also super stressful to navigate. People are always honking and rushing other students to hurry out. Students are bound to get into accidents,” Wright said.

In another instance, senior Carli Katz has had her experience with the parking scramble in the lot. Katz’s spot neighbor was pulling into their spot before school when they made a direct impact with the front of Katz’s car. “There have been so many accidents in that lot I wasn’t even surprised that I got hit,” Katz said.

Aside from these, there have been more instances of fender benders and bumper cars in that lot. It raises the question of whether a higher level of organization is needed.