Everyone who has driven through the auditorium parking lot, aka “The Senior Lot,” at Beaver Area High School has probably thought the same thing at some point: this place is a disaster. And if we’re being honest with ourselves . . . that’s a pretty accurate statement.

Face it, sensible traffic laws must leave everyone’s minds the second they enter that parking lot, and everyone is on the verge of getting in a crash at any moment.

The issues facing The Senior Lot are not exactly hard to fix on a personal level; getting everyone in the parking lot to fix their behavior is the issue. And this everyone extends to more than just the students: parents and adults who drive through The Senior Lot are just as much at fault. Personally, I have seen worse infractions committed by parents dropping off their kids than the students themselves.

To be fair, the layout of our parking lot is far from ideal. The lanes are tight and hard to navigate, the lines are faded, and the intersections are confusing. Not much can be done to fix the structural problems for The Senior Lot, unfortunately.

So, in an effort to make the world a slightly better and slightly safer place, here is a list of the biggest issues with Senior Lot drivers that need to be addressed.

1. Student Parking. As many people may have seen via Beaver Area’s very own bad parking Instagram page, (you know the one, I’m just not allowed to say its name) many of our school’s esteemed students do not know how to park for the life of them. Parking can be tricky in a lawless parking lot, I admit, but it doesn’t take too much time or effort to just adjust your parking. From taking it slow when pulling into a parking space to taking a few extra seconds to adjust crooked parking that is somehow taking up three spots and half of the driving lane, personal parking adjustments can really fix the environment in The Senior Lot.

1. Parent Parking. I cannot count the number of times I have seen someone’s mommy pull into a parking spot just to let their kids out of the car. Stop doing that. Other people need to park there for the day. There are two drop-off lanes that parents can utilize to drop off their kids—so choose one. And don’t get me started on the crooked park jobs I have seen from these parents. These parents may think it doesn’t matter and nobody will notice because you’re only there for a minute or two. I noticed.

1. Driving Patterns. Sometimes, I don’t know how anyone who drives through that parking lot has their license. Parents and students alike. Don’t drive down the middle of the lanes because other people need to drive in the opposite direction, so it is easy to just treat the lanes as any other two-way street that doesn’t have lines down the middle. Also, don’t drive through empty parking spots to leave while students are trying to park—that one is for parents. It’s really not that hard to just use the driving lanes, guys.

1. Stop Signs. Learn how stop signs work, simple as that. Seriously, it’s not that complicated.

1. Turn Signals. Use your turn signal. It’s the easiest thing to do when you drive.

1. Speeding. Whether it’s parents dropping off their kids or student drivers whipping through the parking lot, there always seems to be someone going like 45 through the parking lot. Seriously, I get scared for the poor kids just trying to walk from their cars to the school doors.

1. Pay Attention. It is genuinely astounding how many people don’t look where they are going in a crowded, chaotic parking lot. Taking the extra second to look both ways before driving isn’t killing anyone, if anything it’s saving the hoard of middle schoolers walking to get an after-school Starbucks you didn’t notice in the first place.

Overall, I fear no one will actually change their driving habits, and I get it. But who knows, maybe some person fixing their parking will dramatically change everything. I doubt it, but there’s always a chance for anything to happen.

Photos courtesy of the Beaver Parking Instagram page, again I can’t say the name but you know the one