It’s 7:40 in the morning. You’ve just turned onto Del Mar Heights Road to face the battles of bad drivers, student drivers, traffic, closed lanes, potential potholes, speeding, and reckless lane changing. The sun is also blasting into your front windshield almost blinding you and others. How will you ever make it to campus? As a new driver, getting to school in the mornings is always tricky but easy to adapt to with a little practice. So potential new drivers and freshmen prepare yourselves to face not only driving to school but leaving the student parking lots at the end of the day. 

Mr. Sanchez, the Director of Security and Emergency Management, offers some expert insight regarding driving on and off campus. He described the worst accident he’d seen with a student involved was when a student was leaving the parking lot. She was making a left turn when another individual ran the red light and hit her. The collision was so bad that “her car ended up on its side [and] the windshield had to be broken to get her out.” Mr. Sanchez stated that neither of the people involved was severely injured and everything ended up being okay. His main advice was that “things can happen in an instant, especially when driving at fast speeds. It’s hard for most young people to think about the negative things.” He emphasized that young drivers may think that they’re invincible or that they can handle it, “but that’s not the reality and more and more young drivers are hurting themselves year after year.” It’s been proven that drivers between the ages of 16-20 are the ones most likely to crash or get into a car-related incident, and usually, crashes will happen in the few years after you first obtain your license.

 Lindsay Zimmer is a star athlete and student who had trouble leaving the parking lot one day when she was hit by another car trying to back up. She says that it can take a few minutes to get out of the parking lot if you sprint, but if you’re “walking casually it probably takes like 10-15 minutes just because everyone is so aggressive in that lot.” This need to get to your car and out of the lot fast has created lots of opportunities for frantic, fast, and risky movements. Competitive environments like this have created the perfect space to be backed up into by people trying to get out before you do. You have to be defensive in the parking lots and equally aggressive but you also need to know when to back off and let someone else go before you. 

Another thing you have to keep in mind while driving around school and on campus is not only the legality of your driving and how it could affect your record but also school-issued consequences. Junior Lucy Hetherington states that, “It’s scary because for some reason everyone wants to go 80 and race their friends.” It is important to note that you can be reported by other students, staff members, or parents. Sanchez noted that infractions can lead to “talking to the deans, conversations with students’ parents, to losing your on-campus driving privileges.” So new drivers, more experienced drivers, and drivers to be don’t worry about a thing as long as you pertain to the rules of the road and respect the cars around you; you’ll survive Del Mar Heights Road.