Escalating school traffic clogs Westport streets
Traffic after school serves as a daily obstacle, both before and after school.
After Connecticut public schools returned to 100% in-person schooling, there has been overwhelming traffic smothering the roads. But this traffic is completely unnecessary. Students without a license should be mandated to ride the bus.
The school bus system has been systematically laid out to ensure each student has a ride both to and from school everyday; yet, despite this guaranteed service, some still decide to drive to school each day, consequently resulting in flooded streets and backed up intersections.
When students were partaking in the 50% and 75% hybrid-model schedule last year, my commute to school took approximately 5 to 7 minutes. Now, I frustratingly have to leave my house 5 minutes earlier and I get to school 5 minutes later.
According to Staples’ students, the school is currently home to almost 1,800 students. Meaning, there are around 425 students in every grade. Considering almost all seniors and a fraction of juniors drive themselves to school, around ⅝ of the school population is left, and they could all be taking the bus.
Without students taking the bus, hundreds of cars take the streets and stop the flow into schools. At this point, I haven’t even mentioned all the hundreds of cars that teachers and faculty are also required to drive to school.
If more students decided to take the bus to and from school, immense traffic wouldn’t captivate the streets, and the commute would be bearable for all trying to get to school.
Business Manager Mia Kirkorsky ’24 knows the feeling of hard work as a coxswain at Saugatuck Rowing Club and business manager at Inklings. Kirkorsky...
