Central High drop-off and pick-up, an accident waiting to happen

In 2020, 6,721 pedestrians were killed nationally due to motor vehicles, a 4.8 percent increase since 2019. Many cities have recently implemented successful safety precautions to lower fatalities. With this in mind, it’s time to change the current chaotic student pick-up and drop-off situation at Central High School.

Usually, Central has three designated student pick-up and drop-off areas: the stadium, the front of the school and the road between Central and the Joslyn Art Museum. Unfortunately, because of Joslyn’s construction this year, the road between the two buildings is closed. Since the stadium drop-off gets easily congested, most parents choose to drop their students elsewhere. This results in the front of Central becoming the most used and dangerous student pick-up and drop-off area.

In addition to limited drop-off options, there are other reasons why Central has become unusually dangerous this year.  For example, during last year’s pandemic, about a third of Central’s students were fully remote learners. Now that remote students have returned to in-person school, the number of vehicles in these areas has increased. Also, because of COVID, many parents have chosen to drive their students to school to avoid school buses, further increasing vehicles at drop-off and pick-up. Finally, because of the construction happening at Joslyn, there is no longer a junior parking lot. This has resulted in more juniors relying on parent transportation, adding to drop-off and pick-up congestion.

However, even in a “normal” year, with no pandemic or nearby construction, the front of the school would still be unsafe for students and stressful for drivers. Most drivers approach the front drop-off from 20^th street turning right onto Dodge Street. The right turn onto Dodge Street is particularly hazardous. First, drivers must contend with the school buses lined up along 20^th Street that randomly merge into nearby traffic to exit. Then, drivers also need to worry about the intersection of 20^th and Dodge Street which has a diagonal crosswalk used by students to get from the senior parking lot or Orbit bus stop to Central. When drivers finally make the right turn onto Dodge Street to get to the front of the school, they must negotiate one of two turn lanes and a city bus lane, along with other cars in the process of dropping off or picking up. As if this wasn’t enough, parents and Orbit drivers compete for the use of the city bus lane as it is the closest lane to Central’s sidewalk. With so many vehicles, not all parents can find a place at the curb, forcing some students to be dropped off in the second or third lane of Dodge Street. This results in students squeezing in between drop-off vehicles on their way to and from the curb. Another shortcut some parents use to avoid the commotion at the front of the school is to drop their students on 20^th Street. This causes students to dart between school buses, even though the school administration has advised against this dangerous practice repeatedly.

OPS claims that the safety of every student is most important, however, pick-up and drop-off at the front of Central is the opposite of safe.  The whole situation resembles the game Subway Surfers, but if you lose the game, instead of being caught by the officer, students could be hit and injured by a vehicle. The school and the city’s traffic engineers need to promptly address this situation before any students are harmed.