**The media below contains the opinion of an individual student and therefore does not represent or speak to the values of Vestavia Hills High School and Vestavia Hills City Schools**
Many students’ complaints regarding the high school center around one subject: the parking lot. Considering the fact that everyone starts and ends their academic day here, these critiques should come as no surprise. So what are students saying about the parking lot? I’ve compiled the opinions of various upperclassmen into five main categories.
Problem #1: Safety
When questioned about the school parking lot, students unanimously agreed that it isn’t safe.
“The parking lot is not safe at all. Almost everyone at the school has a story involving an accident in the parking lot.”
¨No it’s not safe because people don’t pay attention to the road. And highschoolers are bad drivers.”
“It feels like people try to hit me while I’m walking.¨
“No it isn’t safe. Someone backed into my car.”
“No. I’ve gotten into way too many collisions. I’ve only gotten in one, but it was too much.”
“Every time it’s icy and people go down they always hydroplane.”
Problem #2: Traffic
Many take issue with how long it takes to leave the parking lot after school or a major school event.
“Last year–my junior year–it took me fifteen minutes just to get out of the junior lot.”
“Traffic is horrendous, so I don’t blame people that want to speed.”
* Disclaimer: don’t speed.
“After football games [traffic] is the worst. I remember the first home game this year and being stuck in the junior lot for over half an hour.”
Problem #3: Stealing spots
No matter how far or close your spot is from the school’s entrance, chances are that it’s been stolen.
“I’ve lost count of how many times my spot’s been stolen. It would happen so often, and whenever I filled out the form to report it, the school couldn’t do anything about it because they were sophomores and didn’t have parking tags, so the school didn’t know who they were.”
“There’s no parking for people at the front of the school because sophomores and juniors decide that they get to park in senior spots, and they get to park close to the school, and they get to park on the curb right next to the door. That’s not allowed and people need to start getting in trouble for it because I can’t get a spot in the morning, and I’m a senior.”
“People take advantage of visitor parking so that when my spot gets taken, I have nowhere to park.”
“I have late arrival and people assume that since my spot’s empty when school starts, that they can just park in my spot.”
One student revealed that they actually have a sticky note saved in their car reading “get out of my spot” in case of emergencies.
Problem #4: Bad parking jobs
Alongside bad drivers come bad parkers.
“One time the person next to me parked so badly that I couldn’t even get into my spot. It was like… diagonal… and they thought it was fine I guess.”
“Bad parking upsets me the most. It doesn’t take very long to correct it.”
“When people park poorly it makes accidents more likely. But people get in wrecks in the parking lot regardless so maybe that’s not the biggest issue.”
Problem 5: Miscellaneous
Some students voiced unique concerns about the parking lot that warranted their own category.
“Parents who cannot drive decide to park in the middle of the road and cause a hazard for everybody, and they need to stop doing that and park in a parking spot.”
“Last year when I was a junior I slipped down the icy hill.”
“It’s unrealistic for us to maintain low speeds, especially in a parking lot where there are hills and situations where you may need to accelerate. Like when you’re looking, and there’s someone that’s about to back into you, so you have to accelerate really fast to get away from them. One time that happened to me two days after I got my car.”
“Blasting loud music at 8am is annoying.”
“I don’t know what the school is going to do when there aren’t enough spots. They shouldn’t cut down the trees to create more spots because traffic will be worse and it’s bad for the environment. Maybe a parking garage is the move.”
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