Imagine your car was the victim of a hit and run. Depending where your car was parked, the incident may not have been caught on school cameras. Besides checking the cameras, there is not much more you can do. You will most likely be stuck footing the bill for any damages to your car. Because of the way the camera system is currently set up, this exact situation happens a few unlucky people each year.
The 2014-2015 school year marks the first year sophomores are allowed to buy parking passes to park in one of the Rock Bridge lots. This means more people are parking in the lots than ever before, leading to increased traffic. Not to mention, most sophomores get their licenses and begin driving to school as soon as they turn 16, meaning a large number of the students parking in the lots are inexperienced.
As of April 30, the number of parking passes sold this year was 727, nearly 100 more than last year, assistant principal Brian Gaub said.
We must make the RBHS lots safer for students, teachers and parents. This is not to say that sophomores being allowed to park in the lots is the reason for all the problems in the parking lot. Students of every grade level are involved in accidents in the lot, with sophomores not being involved in more than any other grade.
Hit and runs have long been a problem in the RBHS parking lots, which is why RBHS needs to install more outdoor cameras.
There are about 90 cameras in the RBHS building. While some face the parking lots, they do not cover all areas, as they are all attached to the building. If RBHS purchased more cameras and placed them so that they covered the entire area of all RBHS parking lots, we could significantly cut down on hit and run accidents and make the lots a safer place to be.
Since the cameras do not cover the entire lot, people have been allowed to get away with hit and run accidents in the past. If the school can’t see the accident on the cameras, they can’t find out who caused the accident.
When a student hits someone else’s car and drives off, he/she is committing a crime. Since the cameras may not have caught it on video, the student may get away with it. That student is learning there are no consequences for their reckless actions.
Knowing there are cameras in all areas of the lots will force drivers to make safer driving decisions. This is why adding more cameras to the lot will be beneficial for all students, teachers and even parents who park  in our school lots.
The school board should budget in money for RBHS to purchase outdoor cameras for the school parking lots.  This will contribute to promoting a safer school environment.