Every day, right as the clock hits 1:51, the parking lot at Scituate High School floods with students who are eager to get home. The commotion of everyone leaving at once creates a line of cars starting in the parking lot, which continues out all the way to the main roads. Just driving this short distance takes at least 10 minutes. Most junior and senior drivers are very familiar with the afternoon car line by now; this after school traffic is a daily occurrence.

    While students of SHS have accepted the afternoon traffic, it has recently become an issue in the morning as well.  Without a doubt the traffic after school is a pain, but getting home a few minutes later in the afternoon does not seem to aggravate students very much.  The traffic issues in the morning, however, have irritated the students of SHS because students are now arriving to school late and are getting marked tardy in the morning.  Junior and licensed driver Gabi Marhoffer agreed that the traffic in the morning is becoming a problem for her. “I get to school at a reasonable time, but I don’t have time to park because of all the cars, so I’m always tardy”, said Marhoffer. “People get dropped off at the auditorium, and all those cars create a lot of traffic.”

    These traffic issues never seemed to be a problem until very recently. For most students at SHS, tardiness occurs on a regular basis, and unfortunately, they feel that these tardies are mostly out of their control. Many students are complaining because they get to school in time for homeroom, but the long line of cars prevents them from getting into school on time. The issue recently attracted much buzz when many students received office detentions for their excessive amount of tardies.

     For the time being, it seems as though there is not much to do about the traffic issues. Because so many upperclassmen drive to school and arrive at the same time, combined with the amount of parents dropping off their students, the line of cars gets longer and longer as the year goes on. The reality of it is, no matter how aggravating it may be, students will have to accept the traffic at school, and plan accordingly. Hopefully, waking up a few minutes earlier can save you from a tardy or an office detention.