Fossils parking lots – unspoken rules


Students cars sit parked in the east parking lot at Fossil Ridge High School.

Beth Farrand, Arts Writer

Anyone who drives, or is learning to drive, knows the basic driving rules. Follow the flow of traffic, stay in your lane, follow the signs, stop at a stop sign, watch for pedestrians, etc. These rules apply both on the road and in a parking lot. While most everyone knows the basic rules for driving, not everyone knows the unspoken rules, especially those new to the place. For Fossil’s parking lots, there happen to be some unspoken rules that only the people who go to fossil know about..

1) Alternate who goes. When turning into or out of the parking lot either before, during or after school hours, students alternate who goes, whether the signs say they need to or not. 

2) Students usually park in the same row every day. At least, they do if they can not get the same parking spot. 

3) Let others pull out of their parking spots when they are trying to leave, either after school, during lunch or during an off period. 

4) Seniors get dibs in the senior lot. The senior lot is the parking lot farthest south, outside the gymnasium. Most seniors park in this parking lot. 

While asking students about any unspoken rules they know, they were also asked how they would describe the parking lots. One student said, “It can either be really calm or really sketchy”. Another responded with, “tight and busy”.

These rules help make the flow of traffic coming into and leaving Fossil much better. It also shows who knows these unspoken rules.