The clock reads 2:39 p.m. Students with backpacks already on slide to the edges of their seats, tense their muscles and clutch their car keys. The bell rings like the starting gun of a race, and they’re off. 

Whether students park in the Essex or Dougherty Ferry lot, most juniors and seniors can attest to the nightmare of parking lot traffic. The privilege of being able to drive to school brings many benefits, but at times, coming and going from school can feel like venturing into a war zone.

After paying $20 for a parking pass, students are guaranteed a place to park each morning, right? Wrong. We have all experienced that heart-sinking moment when a prime open space ends up being a numbered teacher’s spot, and the only options left are Chopin or Rochdale, both practically a two-mile hike.

Nobody wants to start their morning with a vehicle-to-vehicle confrontation, but pulling into the parking lot at 7:47 a.m. will most likely result in a parking space showdown with one triumphant winner and another unlucky, soon-to-be-tardy student. So are those 10 extra minutes of sleep really worth it?

Parking lots seem like they should be the safest place to drive. After all, that’s where most of us start out learning the basics with our permits. However, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, 20 percent of all car accidents occur in parking lots

With nearly 500 cars in a space roughly the size of a football field, unfortunately there is little room to show off your car’s impressive acceleration. We all get impatient (I too am guilty), especially when waiting to escape at the end of a long school day, but revving up to 40 mph down the aisle of the Dougherty Ferry lot will not actually get you home any faster. I promise.

Also, parking your car two inches from the vehicle next to you is a pretty sure way to acquire a new scratch or dent. (Another disclaimer: my own parking skills are often sub-par, so I understand how easy it is to misjudge the trajectory of your front bumper, but please, have the common courtesy to back up, straighten out and try again.)

The standard practice of the Insurance Services Office is to increase a premium by 20 to 40 percent of the base rate with each accident, so those fender benders can add up quickly. As frustrating as it can be sitting bumper to bumper, there are other ways to let out your annoyance rather than actually getting aggressive with your bumper.