Talk to most anyone at Northview and they’ll know someone whose car has been hit in the student parking lot. And it looks like the number of accidents could be on the rise.
According to Deputy Kozal, the average number of reported accidents per year is usually between four and ten.
“There have been six accidents reported to the school already [since September],” Kozal said. “It definitely seems like there may be more accidents than usual this year.”
Most accidents are minor, caused by students not paying attention when backing up, parking, or speeding.
“Speeding is almost always a factor in accidents,” Kozal said. “It would be so easy to avoid many accidents if students took their time and paid more attention to their surroundings.”
Although many accidents are avoidable, sometimes those who are on the receiving end of a hit can do nothing to prevent it.
“I was just sitting at lunch when Felix came up to me and told me what happened,” senior Alex Christian said, whose vehicle was backed into by an unknown driver. There is now a sizable dent next to the front right fender of his car, and the headlight is shattered as well. “I was in shock when he told me. I just didn’t expect it to happen.”
According to Christian, the school handled the incident well.
“I felt like the school respected me and did their best to help out,” Christian said.
However, other students don’t feel the same way. Senior Alexis Warden accidentally scraped another student’s car in the parking lot last year. “They just threw the two of us in a room together,” Warden said, so she could “address the situation.”
Because the student parking lots are on private property, the way an accident is handled is different than outside of school grounds.
Unless the accident is major, or an injury is reported, the sheriff’s department doesn’t get involved. Instead, according to Assistant Principal Brent Dickerson, the school will attempt to find out who caused the accident, whether through security cameras or eye witnesses. Then it goes to the insurance companies. The school is never held responsible.
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