When you live five minutes away from the school, getting home roughly 30 minutes after school gets out seems very frustrating. Well, that’s the reality for most HBHS students and staff. Last year, if students got to their cars fast enough, they could get out before the busses and avoid getting stuck in too much traffic. The difference this year is that there is no opportunity for students to get out before the busses. 

The students have been very vocal about how they feel regarding the traffic set up this year. Some students like Katie Gargasz ‘23 and Jimmy Park ‘22 have places to be after school. “I have to be at work every day at 4. By the time I get home and eat a quick snack, I always end up running late and having to rush to work,” said Park ‘22. Gargasz ‘23 also has the same issue. She had to tell her work she couldn’t start until 4 o’clock because it took her so long to get out of the parking lot. Although the school might have had a few good reasons to change the traffic route, it seems that after talking to the students, it may do more bad than good for the students at HBHS. 

There are some students that have some pretty good ideas on how the school should change the traffic situation. Gargasz ‘23 stated, “First off, letting us leave before the busses as well as keeping the carpool parents out of the student lane may help. They always back the traffic up while waiting for their kids.” Letting the students leave before the bussers seemed to be a common idea among the students.“Even just letting some of the students leave before the busses would help. It’s what we used to do and there was no issue with it from a student’s perspective,” said Park ‘22. 

Other students provided further feedback.For example, “In the morning having a separate lane for carpool makes it easy for the students to drive right up to the parking lot,” said Gargasz ‘23. The idea was definitely there for the traffic route, but most students don’t want to be at school any longer than they have to because they have jobs, sports, and other places to be.  

This new traffic route has been a major talking point for most students. It takes even longer for those who have a parking pass in the lot behind the school. Some students have even tried to switch parking spots with students who have a spot in the lower lot. With some patience, the traffic isn’t that big of a deal, but when you have hundreds of tired students most of them just want to get home and nap rather than sit in their car for 30 minutes waiting to get out of the parking lot. This also posed hidden dangers, tired students may be more likely to get in accidents because they are simply not paying attention.