Mariska

This is just one of the two sets of speed bumps installed in the northwest entrance of the student parking lot.

As of August 19, 2023, students at Gibson Southern have experienced a certain change in their northeast parking lot. Speed bumps were installed by Gibson Southern maintenance in the main entry lane, shocking many student drivers.

“My first encounter with them [was when] I pulled into school Monday morning and literally screamed,” junior Olivia Cox said.

Most students who have been driving for a long time described their initial experience as being surprised and caught off guard by the speed bumps.

“I literally slammed on my brakes,” junior Alyssa Baehl said. “I thought I was going to freaking overturn my car. Like, it was so bad. I almost ramped the things and my car made the worst noise.”

Many students do not feel that the speed bumps are necessary and believe that their height is a little too extreme.

“I think that they are awful,” Cox said. “I don’t think they’d be such a bad idea if they weren’t so high and so skinny because I have to go like, maybe, five miles an hour to not tear up my low-riding car.”

Some students believe that the speed bumps are not necessary in their current location and would rather see them installed in the rear lane of the student parking lot running parallel to the football field.

“I think that they’re not necessary where they are,” Baehl said. “In the parking lot, no one really speeds on that stretch, but on the back stretch with the football, those would probably be a little bit better. But right there, they don’t really do much.”

Other students simply do not like them in any sort of way.

“I just didn’t like them at all,” senior Ashten Martin said. “I just don’t think we need them at all. It messes up my suspension.”

Although student drivers do not favor the speed bumps, Gibson Southern staff’s reasoning for their installation is to ensure the safety of student drivers. Safety was the largest factor contributing to the decision to install the speed bumps.

“As this campus is very busy, like this past weekend, I can’t even count how many events were going on, you know with tennis and families there, it was just done for safety reasons only,” said Darryl Angermeier, Gibson Southern’s Director of Facilities.

The reputation of Gibson Southern was another large factor in the decision to install the speed bumps. Dan Lienemann, Gibson Southern’s Director of Safety and Security, is driven to do what he can to make sure that not only Gibson Southern’s student drivers are safe but also any other person that happens to be in the student parking lot. In this aspect, he has concerns about Gibson Southern’s school image. 

“Safety was the only reason,” Lienemann said. “I’ll tell you, we tried the approach of just educating the students on slowing down in the parking lot, as it’s easy to be in an accident because there are quite a few blind spots, and we’ve got a lot of people wanting to leave and come in early. But, at one point in time, it was after football practice or something, there was a student who was really traveling at a high rate of speed leaving in the parking lot. Well, it just so happened that we had a tennis match going on, and there were some parents from another school and their children were right there on that side of the road. It really really gave us a black eye, if you will, that we were driving crazy in our parking lot with a total disregard for human life. So, this is there to help slow people down a little bit.”

Lienemann also emphasized how important it is that students are driving safely overall, and the dangers of students driving carelessly. With every student driver being new to driving, there is a higher risk of potential accidents.

“I can’t emphasize enough how we have got to pay attention when we are driving in these parking lots,” Lienemann said. “The students who are in this building currently, they’re the youngest generation drivers that we have on the road today, with the least amount of experience, and there are a hundred or so of them in one spot. So, it is definitely a concern.”

There have been minimal amounts of issues regarding people entering and exiting the parking lot through the bus route. However, there has not necessarily been an increase in the number of people doing so since the speed bumps were installed. The staff’s main concern with student drivers using that route is that the buses are not being delayed or blocked.

“We haven’t seen an increase in students that are exiting using the bus exit, and let me tell you that we don’t mind some of the students going out that way currently,” Lienemann said. “It doesn’t present a problem. However, when the buses start to roll and take off, we need to make sure that everybody else stops and waits, let the buses exit because they’re on a schedule, and then they can follow in behind them. It’s just being courteous, right? I mean, because driving is a privilege. Just because you are born in the United States does not give you the right to drive a vehicle.”