Winter roads prove treacherous when coupled with the influx of new drivers as they make for a rather risky student parking situation. Eloise Walsh ’24 experienced this first hand at the beginning of Jan. 2022. Although she was not in the driver’s seat, she was rear-ended by another student as she sat waiting to pull into the parking lot on a snowy morning.                                             

While it was a rear-end rather than a full-on crash she explains how easily it happened, saying, it was just due to the icy roads that day cause it was pretty slick and so [the other person] pressed the brakes just slowing down because we were stopped and they just skidded into us.î The crash can be attributed to the wet road conditions as Walsh elaborates, “I’d say it was definitely the fault of the roads in this situation because they were in control until the ice made [the other driver] skid.”

Even though comparatively rear-ends are usually less impactful than other car crashes, Walsh still notes, “It was kind of surprising I guess, obviously. I didn’t know exactly what happened at first cause I just never experienced anything like that, we just got jolted forward. Luckily it wasn’t that big of a ‘crash’ we were stopped, we were just kind of moved. I was just kind of surprised I was like ‘what was that?’ And then realized that the car behind us had just bumped in. But from there, we were kinda just in shock but then calmed down, you know it’s fine.” She continues that this experience causes somewhat of a “reality check” and has reminded her to be extra cautious in snowy conditions. 

The student parking lot has been cause for concern in such scenarios. As Walsh describes it, “a lot of students who just learned how to drive all in one parking lot.”

However, not all students experience fears of crashing, in such an area. While Daphne Dresner ’24 agrees that driving in a fully student controlled area is somewhat worrying she also notes, “I think [the parking lot is] generally pretty safe, I’ve heard about a couple of accidents but I think as long as kids are looking in their mirrors, in their backup cameras for pedestrians…Just as long as people are looking at the road and aren’t focused on honking at their friends, that’s probably a good way to be safer.” However, as winter conditions prove, it is especially important to participate in these safety measures by constantly keeping an eye out and looking for spots of ice.