Many students at De Soto High School look forward to possibly the greatest privilege of any high school student: the ability to drive to school. This rite of passage is available to any sophomore, junior or senior who has a license, a car and submits a parking registration form at the beginning of the year.

While the ability to drive to and from school has many conveniences, such as arriving and getting home earlier, there is one major hindrance encountered by almost every driver at DHS: that one dreaded intersection.

The intersection of West 91st Street, where DHS is found, and Lexington Avenue is the source of annoyance and frustration from students and parents alike. Everyone in town has surely heard complaints about the lack of a stoplight.

The intersection is flooded with cars going to and from DHS, as well as turning in and out of the Casey’s General Store parking lot.

“The line at the end of the day would be shorter because we wouldn’t have to wait for one person at a time to go,” sophomore Kennedy Ebberts said.

The added time to exit De Soto causes road rage and unsafe driving procedures under certain circumstances. Student drivers are seen slamming on their brakes to avoid collision with the cars in front of them.

This intersection is especially frustrating for DHS community members who reside in Olathe, Lenexa and Shawnee, where the drive home is often 30 minutes or more without the traffick of 91st and Lexington.

“With only one way into DHS, Starside, and the district offices, there is a real need for evaluating options … You are putting your life on the line some days or are forced to wait for a very long time. It’s a miracle there hasn’t been a major accident there yet,” parent Chris Torres said.

Torres resides in Olathe and often waits at the intersection for prolonged amounts of time after dropping kids off or picking them up at school.

Students, parents and teachers in the district recognize the dangers of the busy intersection. Most will agree that the solution, a stoplight, needs to be implemented sooner rather than later in order to preserve the safety of the community in De Soto.