Every student at Camas High School experiences the chaos that ensues immediately after the bell sounds at the end of every period, regardless of their grade, schedule, or routes taken throughout the school. The hallways are backed up, the locker bays are mazes, and the commons is like an impenetrable wall; there’s no way through it. As the current system goes, it is every man for himself. However, this does not always have to be the case. While the traffic situation on the outside of the building has been revamped, the congestion on the inside of the school has yet to be regulated.

In an interview with Mr.Morris, he said, “the biggest problem] for me is: if you want to have a conversation with somebody in the hallway, in the middle of the path of movement is not the right place to do it.” He went on to say that students should instead find somewhere away from the lanes of traffic to talk to their friends. As far as regulating hallway movement, Morris said, “the passing period time for me is it’s your guys’ time.” He suggests that recommending guidelines for walking in the halls would be the best idea for fixing this problem.

In order to fix this problem, some rules of the road should be recognized school-wide. For instance, just like in driving, students should walk on the right side of the hallway. Just like on the road, this separates the “lanes of traffic” in the halls and limits the amount of slowing. Furthermore, standing in front of narrow walkways such as stairs, doorways, and locker bays makes it a lot harder to get to and from classes. Instead, students should stand in open areas like the commons in order to cut down on blockage. However, people should stay away from the stairs in the main commons, following the second rule. For those who need to get from point A to point B in the smallest amount of time, they should avoid the commons at all costs. Rather, students should use the hallways and locker bays, or the outside of the commons if absolutely necessary, to swiftly get to class.

If every student follows these guidelines, the gridlock that infects our hallways will soon vanish.