The administration’s safety concerning cars, walking pedestrians, bikes, and buses has become very problematic. Whether it be on or off campus students and staff aren’t receiving the safety they should be, and they also aren’t being as careful and safe as expected.

Drivers are often seen speeding past buses, even when the flashing red stop sign that comes out of the bus while stopped for students to have the right of way to cross the street.

“Whenever I’m at my bus stop or I’m being dropped off, there are always a couple of cars that are impatient and decide to keep driving instead of waiting,” sophomore Kieran Barrington said.

The Austin Independent School District is going to be adding cameras to the flashing sign to help the prevention of cars illegally passing the school buses. However on campus there are still many unsafe instances occurring.

“The area between A and B hall is an area of concern where accidents are more likely to happen because teachers are backing out and students are in that area,” assistant principal Vicente Trevino said. “Not that they are intentionally doing it but the area is confined and you have all this movement so it’s an area of an increase of a possibility of an accident.”

In white the words ‘do not enter’ have been painted on a red background on the road that leads to the teacher parking area so hopefully they will not enter from the wrong way.

“We also sent out emails to the teachers who parked there to ask them to be more careful and we asked them to back into their spots when they park so that when they leave it is easier to see the students as they pull out,” Trevino said.

The problem with this is that the parking lot is full of many inexperienced drivers who aren’t as aware of such things as a driver who’s had their license for many years would be.

“Some teachers don’t realize that those are teenagers behind the wheel and that they may not stop for you,” McBrearty said. “So because of that they have been pulled over before and been told to be safe.”

They need to take the extra few seconds to get out of the parking lot because they leave more space between themselves and the car in front of them so an accident is less likely to happen.

Many students are also not alert and careful when crossing the street.

“I see people sprinting to their cars. And when they’re in their cars they aren’t cautious at all. I’ve almost been run over a couple times and I just kinda jumped back so I wouldn’t get hit,” senior Brianna Wojtowicz said.

There have been a few close calls where students have almost been hit, but that doesn’t keep people from doing it.

“Kids just assume that when they step off that curb, because they are in a hurry to get to their car, that people should just stop for them because they are walking, ” McBrearty said.

Many people are seen jaywalking because they are in a rush to get to their car and beat the traffic.

“Because Bowie traffic is so bad it’s basically impossible to get out of the parking lot  if you aren’t the first one out.” Wojtowicz said. “Some people have to go get food and come back for after school stuff.”

The students are even so eager to leave the parking lot that they will drive bumper to bumper.

“They need to take the extra few seconds to get out of the parking lot because they leave more space between themselves and the car in front of them so an accident is less likely to happen,” police officer Angelica Covington said.

The parents do their part in the parking lot by being watchful for students who aren’t driving safely.  

“I think our parents are really good about reporting things that they witness, if they witness a student driving wreckless on slaughter they will call in or come to the office to report it. They will get the make of the car, and the license,” McBrearty said.

Punishments are then given to those who are putting themselves or others at risk in the parking lot.

“We can remove their parking permit where they’re not allowed to park on the campus,” McBrearty said. “Depending on the severity of it they may just be given a warning and if it’s reoccurring then we take their permit.”

While some students can be reckless on the road others can never be too safe while driving.

“I’m always kinda scared because even though I’m cautious, not many others are,” Wojtowicz said.

The parking lot is mainly filled by the juniors and seniors from the campus however some of the sophomores still park in it even though it is prohibited.

“The underclassmen need to understand that even though they have a car parked out there doesn’t mean they should be there. They aren’t allowed to park out there,” security officer Andy Padgett said. “There is a policy that underclassmen should not be there, and they either don’t know about it or don’t pay attention.”

 The staff makes sure to carefully monitor the parking lot after school.

“We pretty much have good control in the parking lot, I would say overall we have good drivers,” McBrearty said.

The Bowie community will continue to try to be safe on and off campus. While changes were made to make the busses safer no changes are planned on being made any time soon in the parking lot.

“Every now and then we have someone who breaks the rules but for it being young inexperienced drivers everybody does relatively well,” McBrearty said.