The time is 8:25 a.m. Cars are furiously weaving in and out of traffic, completely disregarding the fact that there are people on either side of them. My visibility is low. I had just enough energy to crawl out of bed and drag myself to my car, so obviously keeping my eyes completely open and on the road is a hard enough endeavor. Unfortunately, I did not account for how incredibly and absolutely stupid people are.

The two lanes on Westbank Drive coming off of 360 have a purpose for regulating school traffic in the busy morning roadways. They are not there to provide a leisurely choice for drivers of lanes to drive in. The left is for getting into the Ben Hur and going towards the stadium, and the right is for getting to the senior lot and the TLC. In the middle of the day, say 2 o’clock, you can switch lanes as often as you like because there is almost no traffic. However, in the morning, when more than 1,000 students and faculty are trying to get to the same place, don’t be a jerk and think you’re above the rules. Stick to the code.

Every morning, there is some fool who thinks he can beat the line at the light for the right lane by going in the left lane and switching later. Good luck with that. No one wants to let you in or will let you in just out of spite. The only way you are going to get in the lane you originally should have been in is to forcibly put yourself there. Then you become “that guy” — that guy that would be willing to risk his life and the lives of others just to get to school a couple of seconds earlier. You’re the kind of person who causes me to slam on my brakes in a desperate reflex of survival.

This is a daily occurrence on my quaint morning drive to school. My previously enjoyed couple of minutes of freedom before entering the doors of school for the next eight hours is plagued with anticipation for the moment when I will have to participate in the obstacle course of death. Luckily, I have survived so far, but it is only a matter of time before I don’t see that car swerving in the tiny crevice directly in front of me.