The Perils of Parking Deck Frogger

Jack Stenger

Sophomore Parker Dingman wants the parking deck “Frogger” games to stop.

Walking to your car at the end of the day should not have to be a real-life game of Frogger. Trying to exit out of the parking deck in one piece is not a feat to be underestimated. The impossibility of the task never fails to get one’s nerves jumping. Dodging zooming cars as you walk across the deck, pedestrians here, and huge trucks there. You’d think it would be easier to make an orderly and calm escape Period. Well, unfortunately, you’d be wrong.

Every day, young and inexperienced drivers enter the parking deck at an alarming speed. When leaving these maniacs never even think to look twice to see if anyone is coming, leaving the possibility for accident very real. “No one even cares about the law when driving in the parking deck; no one stops, no one yields, no one glances,” said junior Grace Shults.

When making the dangerous trek through the deck from the stairs to your car, it is imperative that you are quick, without hesitation. Once students commence the exodus from school, many rush to their cars and attempt to make a hasty exit in order to avoid traffic. But with this comes casualties, the students who barely make it out with their lives after being practically run down by a car. When trying to cross the parking deck, you must be skillful in picking and choosing your moments. Although the path may seem clear to cross one minute, a car might come bearing down on you the next.

For some reason, it doesn’t seem to occur to students that everyone would be better off if they would just slow down. It would make it much safer for drivers and pedestrians alike if students began paying more attention to their daily routine in the parking deck. Not to mention that no matter how fast they are determined to drive, the speedsters rarely get to their destinations any faster than the rest of us. “I feel like everyone is just flying through the parking when we all end up stopped at the same light anyway,” said sophomore Lila Ward.

The parking deck is somewhat of an “accident waiting to happen” situation. It seems as though every factor is put in place to ensure that students are in as much peril as possible. Despite the obvious speeding, drivers don’t even comply with the simplest tasks such as making a complete stop (or stopping at all) at a stop sign. At the end of the day, student drivers need to learn to be more cautious to avoid the real consequences of the high-stakes game of driving.