Camas High School’s (CHS) schedule change has not just caused a change in bell time; it has created traffic flow issues that are causing students to arrive home later and an increase in tickets.
CHS’s Student Resource Officer (SRO) Kevin Hermann has noticed a rise in speeding and reckless driving.
“[Within the traffic] I have noticed people driving too fast,” Hermann said. “People need to slow down.”
The speeding has caused safety risks for pedestrians, with people not stopping at crosswalks to watch out for pedestrians. This behavior is significantly different from last year.
“I do not think I wrote a single pedestrian ticket last year,” Hermann said.
Students say that their rush to get home in order to make it on time to extracurricular activities plays a big role in their driving behavior.
“I get home like 20 minutes later than I am supposed to, and that is cutting it really close to practices after school,” CHS senior Luna Rios Cruz said. “[Once I get home], I have to rush to get ready and decide if I have time to go home and get my stuff for [cross country].”
Another source of the congestion is the lack of FLEX parking for Running Start students.
“They have no FLEX parking, so I know a lot of my friends coming from Clark College or Cascadia Tech Center have nowhere to park and have to park in overflow,” CHS senior Adisynn Ackley said.
Students also believe that another reason for the congestion has to do with the fact that the buses leave right after the students disembark in their cars.
“[I believe that what made the traffic worse is] the new schedule with the buses leaving really early and it is just making everything more chaotic,” Cruz said.
Students have suggested different ways to deal with the traffic issues. Specifically, Cruz suggested that holding buses back for a few minutes could help allow people to get out of the parking lot faster.
SRO Hermann thought that acknowledging the issue and spreading awareness about the dangers of speeding — and the fact that the driving behaviors he has seen can lead to charges — is necessary for people to know.
Students and staff agree that there is no quick fix to the congestion problem, but drivers must slow down and follow the law so that no one is injured — even if they are in a rush.
