When a teen finally gets his or her license, they’re overcome with excitement – the rest of the world isn’t so happy.  California law permits teenagers to drive without parental supervision as early as age 16, giving irresponsible, reckless teens the privilege of driving potentially lethal three-ton hunks of metal.

Provisional licenses restrict many aspects of a new driver’s rights, but these laws are often overlooked and disobeyed.
Imagine a place where teens with provisional licenses could come together and drive, all at the same time, in a crowded, confined space.
Did you imagine the Redwood parking lot?
There’s no doubt in my mind that the most dangerous part of the school day is entering and leaving the parking lot, especially when everyone is rushing to get lunch.
When lunch begins, hundreds of upperclassmen burst into the halls, and in a speed-walking frenzy, race to their vehicles to beat the lunchtime traffic.
Soon there are students going 40 miles per hour though the lot, nearly running the rest of us over so they can get to Panda Express and back in time for 5th period.
Fortunately for fearful pedestrians, the administration doesn’t allow underclassmen to park in the Redwood lots during school hours.
This at least helps keep the lot from being too crowded and ensures that the people who do drive in the lot during school hours have a moderate amount of driving experience.  That’s not to say that juniors and seniors are all good drivers.  ­They’re not.
When so many students are backing out of spaces at the same time, speeding to get out of the lots, illegally driving friends, and dodging pedestrians while doing so, they create a dangerous situation that needs to be carefully supervised.
The administration has done a good job doing so by posting supervisors at all the exits to the parking lots and penalizing students who drive dangerously by assigning them school service hours.
The construction on Doherty Drive only aggravates the problem.  With the temporary closure of the road, students only have one direction to exit the front parking lot.
This has led to serious traffic backups and impatient teenage drivers don’t always make good decisions.
There’s no need to drive at Nascar speeds while dodging pedestrian obstacles to get to lunch and back.
Panda Express isn’t going anywhere.
Those big neon green pedestrian signs are there for a reason.  Realize that there are people walking everywhere.
The extra minute you save by driving recklessly is not worth the consequences of hurting yourself, or worse, someone else.
Driving the wrong way down a one-way street and carelessly running over curbs are excellent ways of damaging your car or getting into an accident.
Understand driving is a privilege, and if you mess up badly enough, the DMV will gladly revoke your license.
So slow down, follow the rules of the road, and be aware when you’re driving in the poorly designed, pedestrian filled center for inexperienced drivers that we call the Redwood parking lot.