I have been driving for four years, and after Driver’s Ed and countless hours behind the wheel, I would say that I am a safe driver. However, this is all thrown out the window at about 7:30 a.m. on weekdays.

Anyone who takes K-10 to get to school in the morning knows what I’m talking about. Turning left onto 91st St. from Lexington Avenue is an absolute nightmare. There are so many cars turning right onto 91st Street, that if you follow the rules in the Kansas Driver’s Handbook, you will be sitting there for 15 minutes waiting to turn and be late for school.

As a senior, I have gotten it down to a science. I know the closest that a car can be to the intersection and have it still be okay to turn in, and that if the cars have their right turn signals on, that it is okay to turn into the left lane and merge later. Also, if a bus is coming, you can go ahead and go because they drive slower that most high schoolers.

Now, with the buses having to turn back into the loop because of construction, the line to turn into the school is getting backed up onto Lexington Avenue This happened to me about a week ago. I was next to turn into the school, but the line was backed up. I knew that I had to go somewhere because if I just sat there, the line behind me would get backed up into the intersection of Lexington Avenue and Commerce Drive

This is ridiculous! The fact that in my four years at De Soto High School there has never been an accident at this intersection is amazing.

In order to fix this, the city of De Soto needs to put in a stoplight with left turn signals at this intersection. If not, there at least needs to be a police officer out there every morning directing the flow of traffic, so everyone gets a turn and there would be no more unsafe driving decisions being made.

Getting to school should not be unsafe, and surely should not involve having to step on the gas to avoid a collision.