Lots of students hang out with their friends in the parking lot before and after school. Perhaps someone just got their license, and they want their friends to check out their new whip. Or someone installed new speakers and plan to show them off by playing the latest album by Offset.

While all of this is well and good, vehicles continue to weave through the parked cars. Some drivers are frantic to get home or to a job and end up “movin’ too fast” to the exits. Too often, students are distracted by passengers or texts or phone calls or finding a song they absolutely have to listen to.

Junior Anthony Romanini observed, “There are these seniors girls who go like 25 in the parking lot, and they almost hit me. And then they have the nerve to give me a dirty look.”

Junior Juliana Meno commented, “I think it’s dangerous, especially if there’s students walking and if there are other cars backing out.”

Another issue: some people can not park to save their lives. It makes one wonder if they learned about parallel lines in math, because they can not put their car between them. This makes others feel the need to shout (in a friendly way), “Stay in your lane!” These maneuverability-challenged drivers cause lots of trouble for other students. If someone parks cattywampus, the person on the one side of the spot will have a difficult time getting out of or into their car.

Maddie Metzger, a senior, was asked what she thought about the bad parking, and simply said, “It’s annoying.”

The way to fix a bad parking job is to pull out after looking both ways and then straighten the wheel and move carefully back into the spot. It takes all of ten seconds. Students spend hours every night doing homework; they can definitely take ten seconds out of their day to position their car properly as a courtesy to other drivers.

Senior Mark Fazio stated, “Yeah, it’s worth fixing, because if you don’t fix it people might mess with your car so it’s harder for you to get out.”

This happened earlier in the year. A student parked badly, and when they came out from school they were shocked to see water bottles thrown on it. This is not a damaging prank, but it shows students do not appreciate sloppy parking.

So, go ahead and hang out with friends in the parking lot, but be aware of the possible dangers. And also be aware that all those lines are painted there for a reason.