Daily Skiff

It seems like everyday this spot in the Skiff is reserved for students to vent about the lack of quality parking for commuting students.

Like everyone else, I have my issues with our current situation. I don't understand why the lot across the street from Smith Hall doesn't have at least a second floor.

But I am not using this spot to bash our administration. I am going to use it to bash my fellow commuters.

First off, there are the people who park at the end of parking rows in an attempt to fool the police into thinking they are in a real spot.

You almost never get away with it and you are causing a hazard to other drivers.

Our cops aren't stupid and they can tell when you are legally in a parking spot and when you are in one of those semi-circles at the end of the rows.

As far as being a hazard, every day accidents are narrowly avoided in the commuter lot.

For those of us who drive sedans or other small cars, it is impossible to see around giant trucks that are not in legit parking spots. I almost ran into another car Tuesday because of someone with a truck with giant tires on a suspended cab.

One of these days an accident is going to happen because of this and I hope the car at the end of the row is the one that gets held responsible for it.

Another thing that ticked me off Tuesday morning: I was 30 minutes late for class because I was looking for a parking spot. I was already in a grumpy mood, and it was exacerbated by seeing students hanging out in their cars, giving me the illusion that they were leaving.

I get it, I guess, if you have an 8 a.m. class then an 11 a.m. class with a break in between, but I don't see why you can't go to the library or bookstore and stay there for your break. But no, you decide to park your car, walk to the library or bookstore to buy coffee then walk back to your car.

You get a driver's hopes up then dash them because you need a caffeine fix.

Plus you are wasting your car's battery with the radio on and gas with the air conditioning on.

I know I am being a bit harsh here, and we can complain all we want about the parking situation, but at least we have some parking and we are all fortunate to have a car to get to our private university so we should be respectful to everyone we share it with.

One way we can be respectful to other students is to let cars waiting for a spot know when you are leaving.

How about from now on when you are leaving school, raise your hand while you walk through the parking lot so someone can take your spot and settle the madhouse that is the parking lot much sooner. That was my friend Rose's idea, but she said I could use it.

So please don't do anything stupid in our parking lot that can lead to an accident or tick anyone off and think about giving your fellow student a helping hand - literally.

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