The Tahoma parking lot has been an ongoing issue since I started driving. The reason for this is due to the number of spots that are available, littering in the parking lot, and impatient driving. Due to the reasons listed above, many students’ cars have been hit, trashed, or have had to park a mile away to go to school.

With the layout of the parking lot, it is near impossible to fit every student’s car. From my personal experience coming to school after the first period, there is no option to park in the top lot. When driving past the cars that didn’t pay the $40 I had to pay for a parking pass, it was almost like they took my money and ran with it. If they were to open up the barriers between the lanes, they could add more spots or even allow students to park in the open spots in front of the school.

They could also enforce what they make you get a parking pass for. I continue to see students without tickets who are parked in the spots nearest to the school without a pass. That’s why, unless they enforce the rules, they should stop scamming students for $40 to pursue an education.

Every student that parks in the student parking lot knows that the garbage in the parking lot gets out of hand far too often. I tend to realize that most of the trash appears after lunch after students have bought their food and just litter it on the parking lot floor instead of throwing it away. This is a problem that should not come up in Tahoma.

It is very simple to throw away your trash after eating. The school puts a trash can at the gate, so if you just take your trash in with you, it could easily be thrown away when you arrive at the gate. I also think that if these students are going to go off campus to buy food, at least dispose of their trash the right way instead of flooding the school parking lot with trash that someone will have to pick up later. 

One issue that causes serious problems is the drivers in the school parking lot. The drivers that make up the student lot aren’t what you would call the best or anywhere near it; a lot of people are in a rush after school and they try to get out quick, which unfortunately causes car accidents. I can recall several moments when there has been a car accident in the school lot, and almost every single one is because a person is in a rush, so they try to squeeze out, but before you know it, *BAM* car accident. Even talking with Kate Davis, a student at Tahoma High School, “My first week driving the traffic caused me to crash in the parking lot” (Davis). We also talked to Eli Brennan who has a lot of experience with crashing and has also hit cars in the parking lot. Brennan said “I was just trying to leave and someone was speeding in front of me causing a crash.” 

So if people could be more considerate of everyone’s time and not just their own, traffic could move along much smoother and safer.