According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately 221,313 teenagers were treated in emergency departments last year for injuries that were suffered in motor vehicle accidents. Washburn Rural is no stranger to these types of dangerous accidents. From the first day of school until now, wrecks have become a recurring incident. There has been 17 recorded accidents this year, which according to security officer Ryan Ladner is normal for this point in the school year.

On the second day of school, sophomore Allie Nally rear-ended another student because the sun was shining into her face and she was unable to see the car in front of her begin to break. Fortunately, no one was injured.

“There was only damage to my car because I went under her bumper,” Nally said.

This is not the only weather-related accident to occur this year; as the snow and ice came in with the winter season, so did more wrecks.

Since high schoolers are starting to learn how to drive when the weather changes into conditions they are not used to, it often causes their decision making abilities to be tested.

Senior Sarah Meenen said she believes the weather conditions have a great impact on how often the wrecks happen.

“Teenagers are awful drivers to begin with and since we live in Kansas, we aren’t used to driving in snow conditions,” Meenen said.

Another major factor to the wrecks is that drivers let distractions get the best of them while in the parking lot.

Meenen said she has seen accidents occur due to people being on their phones or not leaving enough room to break. While being distracted by phones, the radio or the person in the passenger seat, not leaving enough following distance can create a recipe for disaster. The moment a driver takes their eyes off the road their chances of causing an accident greatly increases.

Nally said that if she had the opportunity to make and enforce one rule she would ensure that all drivers take care of  distractions before driving because it would allow them to be more focused on the road rather than their phone.

With a busy parking lot at 3 p.m., many students plan how to safely exit the high school.

“[The best way to leave the parking lot is] to wait after school for a little bit and then leave because there is less traffic,” sophomore Kaden Harmes said.