Tom Lord/Viewpoints Editor

A student who is already late to class barely makes the unprotected left turn through oncoming traffic and speeds through the parking lot like a NASCAR rookie to find a space. Another driver who is more interested in music than the immediate surroundings, fiddles with the equalizer settings on the stereo, making sure the bass is loud enough to rattle the paint off the frame. Most ambitious of them all is the multi-tasking driver with a cell phone in one hand, a cheeseburger in the other and both eyes on the side of fries and sloshing drink.

Welcome to the asphalt jungle known as the Southwestern College parking lot.

Bad driving on campus is epidemic. Courtesy and common sense fly out the window upon entering the school parking lots. Distracted drivers can injure people, speeding drivers can kill them. SWC is a tragedy waiting to happen.

In a survey conducted in 2010 by the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS), respondents replied that speedy, aggressive driving and distracted driving as a result of cell phone use (handheld and hands-free) were the two biggest safety problems on California roadways. In the same survey almost half of the respondents (45.8 percent) admitted they made driving mistakes while talking on a cell phone. The survey also reported that 54.6 percent of participants said they had been hit or nearly hit by a driver who was talking or texting on a cell phone.

In 2006 University of Utah psychologists published a study showing that motorists who talk on handheld or hands-free cellular phones are as impaired as drunk drivers. Using a cell phone while driving, whether it is hand-held or hands-free, delays a driver’s reactions as much as having a blood alcohol concentration at the legal limit of .08 percent. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety found that drivers who use hand-held devices are four times as likely to get into crashes serious enough to injure themselves.

Traffic danger is an ongoing problem in the city of Chula Vista. Results of a resident opinion survey showed speeding was the city’s #1 concern. CV police reports peg the intersection of Otay Lakes Road and East H Street as the city’s most dangerous.

Several programs and campaigns have been put into place to encourage safer driving behavior. Chula Vista’s Engineering Division of the Department of Public Works and the Chula Vista Police Department partnered up on an anti-speeding campaign called Slow Down, Chula Vista! Efforts for the campaign include strategically placed posters throughout Chula Vista, informational brochures, bumper stickers, window clings, DUI checkpoints and special enforcement events.

With an aim to educate students on traffic safety related topics especially drunk driving and unsafe speed. CVPD also established a Comprehensive Traffic Safety Program. Services include residential yard signs, a traffic complaint hotline, and presentations by the Traffic Safety Officer.

SWC parking policy states the maximum speed limit is 20 miles per hour and all regulatory signs on campus must be obeyed. Unfortunately, these rules have not stopped drivers from doing otherwise. They need to realize the consequences of their actions are not worth the risks. Speeding and multi-tasking while driving may be hard habits to break, but changing these behaviors will prevent accidents and save lives. It is better to run late than to never reach your destination.