Almost two years ago to the date, The Antelope wrote an editorial addressing the blind spots when driving through Lot 10 on campus. We shared our concerns for student safety and gave some suggestions for making the parking lot traffic run smoother.
Two years have passed, and our worry has yet to be eased.
Lot 10 is dangerous to drive through, and something still needs to be done.
Lot 10, east of the Health and Sports Center, is one of the main lots that commuters park in. With its central location on campus, the lot is often packed in between classes. The congestion, paired with dozens of cars battling for a parking spot, does not equal a happy equation.
While this congestion is unavoidable, many of the safety issues are.
A line of sight is nonexistent when driving through the lot. Cars have to pull into traffic to be able to see if anyone is coming from the left or right, putting themselves and others in danger of a collision.
Even with caution, our staff members have had several close calls – most of which were neither driver’s fault and could not be avoided due to the lot’s setup.
The stop sign near the lot’s entrance is our biggest concern. Drivers who stop at the sign have to pull out into traffic to see around the last row of cars, and at that point, have to gun it or slam on their brakes to avoid colliding with another car.
When The Antelope wrote about Lot 10’s danger in 2023, we also mentioned how the rows feel narrow. Due to the sidewalk’s curve next to the Fine Arts Building, the road has narrow spots that only one car can fit through comfortably.
This becomes even more of a problem where this narrowness meets the end of a parking row. A driver has to pull even farther out into traffic to see around the row, sometimes finding themself head-on with another car.
To enter Lot 10, there is a Y-shaped intersection. Cars have two routes off of University Drive that they can use to enter the intersection. During traffic’s busiest times, it is often a madhouse between cars coming from every direction and students trying to walk to class.
Something must be done. As we said two years ago, we shouldn’t have to wait for something bad to happen to do something.
Our staff has compiled some realistic and feasible options for minimizing the hazards in Lot 10.
Two years ago, we suggested adding a concave mirror to the edge of the Health and Sports Center so cars at the stop sign could tell if anyone was coming without having to enter traffic. Our team also suggested removing the last stalls in parking rows to make it easier to see when exiting rows. While this does create less parking, the tradeoff for bettering student safety is worth it.
We still stand by these suggestions and believe they are viable options.
Another plausible solution is to add a speed limit sign to the lot. While it is inferred that drivers should navigate through the lot at a slow speed, not everyone does. Ensuring drivers slow down when driving through the lot will make a big difference.
Trying anything will help us get closer to a solution.
While we are calling on campus officials to make some of these changes, our team also wants to speak to our peers as well. There is more that we can do as drivers ourselves.
Pay attention to the yield sign at the Y-intersection. This helps traffic flow both in the intersection and on University Drive. Reconstructing the intersection is not feasible, so if we each do our own part, we can make navigating the parking lots a little easier.
