Every day students drive to school hoping to get there on time, and to not get into an accident or cause trouble. Weaving in and out of traffic, they try to avoid collisions with other teenage drivers. The worst part isn’t driving to school in what always seems like the worst traffic jam in the history of the highway, but getting onto campus and having to face De Anza College’s destructive parking system.

Merging through several different lanes of cars while going at a dangerously high speed on the freeway only seems like practice for driving on campus. 

De Anza College’s two parking structures and four lots hardly provide the parking that students need. The spaces are too small and close together, causing accidents, traffic jams and commotions. The spaces don’t leave enough room for students to back out of without fear of hitting the car behind them. 

Small spaces also plague the parking structures. Students with large cars often park carelessly in the Flint or Stelling Garages, with their wheels crossing lines, and their cars parked too close to the cars next to them, scratching or leaving a dents into the other cars. 

“The addition of the new [Stelling parking structure] was good because it created a lot more parking spaces, but I’ve had people bump into my car and not leave a note or anything,” said Timothy Dang, 26, a liberal arts major. 

Another problem comes from a lack of signage in the two parking garages. Parking Lot A has stop signs that help students, whereas both parking structures lack essential traffic signs. If one fails to slow down voluntarily, a collision may happen. 

How De Anza can remedy its parking structure woes is by securing the safety of the students and their cars. 

While the size of the parking structure cannot be changed, security can be more persistent in issuing tickets or warnings to cars that fail to park appropriately in their respective parking spaces, for instance, a large Land Rover in a compact parking spot. 

Fixing this problem could save students the expense of repairing their dented cars and save the large car-driving students from getting their car hit.

Additional traffic signs within the parking structures will lessen traffic collisions. Though there are several stop signs already inside the structures, they’re hidden and many don’t notice them. Making more obvious signs for drivers could help the flow of traffic.

De Anza can’t help having overcrowded parking with over 22,000 students enrolled, according to the De Anza Fast Facts web page, but De Anza can help students worry less when they leave their cars parked on campus.