Is it Worth the Drive?
NEIRAD enilno edition
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A senior leaving within 10 minutes of school should be able to leave his or her house exactly 10 minutes before the beginning of their first class. Twelve minutes tops if they want to give themselves a little extra time, and still be able to arrive to their first class on time, right? Wrong. Lately, the line leading up to the school has been unreasonably long. If a driver plans on taking High School Lane, the gridlock has often been backed up to Kona Road, two thirds of a mile from Darien High School. Instead of leaving 10 minutes before school, if any given student wants to arrive on time they would have to leave anywhere from 15 to 20 minutes ahead of time to make it to class before the late bell.
The source of this problem? Less students taking busses to school, and more being driven by parents. Last year, 201 students took the bus in the morning. This year, as of September 16th, only 165 students were counted.
“I just think it's annoying to see kids getting driven to school every day and seeing one kid get out of a car,” senior Kelly Mahoney said. “The line is always so long 10 minutes before the bell rings and everyone is scrambling to get to class on time,” Mahoney added. “It takes away part of the senior privilege of driving to school if that means not getting to class on time.”
However, not everyone shares the same viewpoint of this year’s traffic. “Freshman wise, almost everyone is here before the second bell,” Richard Butler, campus monitor, explained. “The traffic flow is lighter. We’re usually walking inside before the second bell.” But whilefreshman may be arriving to class on time, those in line behind them are still arriving late.
The large size of this year’s freshman class may also play a big role in this year’s morning traffic. With the amount of freshmen being larger than the amount of seniors that are able to drive, buses should be gaining riders instead of losing them.
“I think the line is ridiculous!” senior Taylor Wells said. “I don’t understand why underclassmen can’t just take the bus in the morning, or carpool.”
Senior Lexy Crouse agrees. “I took the bus all three years,” Crouse said. “It’s slightly annoying when I see people who get rides to and from school every day because it creates way too much traffic and frankly wastes so much gas.”
On the other hand, junior Emily Crump explains why she opts to drive to school. “My bus is extremely overcrowded, usually three to a seat,” she said. “It also usually runs late, and I live five minutes from the school but the bus drives all over Darien. So instead of a five minute car ride, I get a 35-minute bus ride.”
The bottom line? “If you live near other kids that you know get driven to school, figure out a carpool,” Mahoney said. “Less cars in the traffic line means everyone is more likely to get to class on time.”
