While the school parking lots may seem silent and still during the school day, before and after hours they can be a center for traffic and even reckless driving.

“There are several students that tend to drive faster than they should, I have seen a few on their cell phones which they shouldn’t,” school resource officer Mark Mitchell said. “Students also park in the wrong spots, where the teachers are supposed to park.”

While students are typically not caught for careless driving in the school’s lot, anything done that could get a driver a ticket on main roads can also have consequences on school property.

“Really almost anything that is a violation of the law can cause the school or I to have to handle it and issue citations,” Mitchell said. “Like speeding, driving recklessly, talking on your phone, any of these things. You can receive citations and or have to deal with the school administration.”

Luckily for many student drivers, nothing severe is issued the first time that an official catches them driving carelessly.

“Even on the streets, things that you could have your license suspended for sometimes won’t be suspended if its your first offense, so it takes several instances to have your license taken away,” Mitchell said. “I know the school can suspend parking privileges and not let you park on campus if the violation is bad enough, but typically that won’t happen first off.”

Students and staff are familiar with the notorious, possibly dangerous traffic before and after school.

“I haven’t really seen any student drivers doing anything wrong because I wait to leave until 4:35 since the traffic is so bad,” AP human geography and US History teacher Homa Lewis said. “But I figure students not handling the traffic well could make the parking lot dangerous.”

While the traffic can be bad, the school has been relatively lucky with any accidents resulting from it.

“On a scale of one to ten, 1 being completely unsafe and 10 being perfectly safe, I would say that our parking lot is somewhere around a five, maybe a six,” Mitchell said. “But I will say that we have been very lucky as far as injuries are concerned. Of almost all the accidents we’ve had on campus that I can think of, only one was where someone was injured. I would say safety here is kind of in the middle so we’ve been lucky to not have any serious injuries from careless drivers.”