Over the course of two weeks in October, Troy Thiele and Mary Mortlock’s Statistics and AP Statistics students stationed themselves in eight places around the Upper School campus to watch both the morning and afternoon traffic flow of the Upper School. They conducted a survey on the infractions that student and parent drivers commit and categorized them as nuisances, dangerous acts, or illegal driving violations.

A similar study was implemented in the Middle School. Consequently, Greg Lawson, Assistant Head of School, suggested this analysis for the Upper School. So Thiele and Mortlock decided to incorporate this study into their classes.

The students of Mortlock’s Statistics class looked for driving violations half an hour before and after school and recorded 751 traffic violations in only one week. According to the class’s report, “the data collected and the amount of violations recorded raises concern about the safety of driving in and around the Harker Saratoga campus.”

“I was not very surprised with the results,” said Sean Martin (12), who took part in the study. “The only disturbing thing [was] the sheer amount of violations in one week.”

Classmate Daisy Mohrman (12) agrees. “It’s ridiculous,” she said. “Sometimes over 50 percent of cars are doing something wrong, whether it be illegal or [a] nuisance. I had no idea our parking lot and loading zones were that dangerous, and frankly, I’m amazed no one has gotten hurt yet.”

They noted that parents and students violate similar traffic rules such as waiting in the wrong spot for students in loading zones, sleeping, reading, not using a turn signal, driving in the wrong direction, and speeding. However, the ones they have noticed that are more specific to student drivers are talking on the cell phone, although it is illegal under the age of 18 even with Bluetooth, as well as studying and driving other students with only a provisional license.

“What was surprising was the amount of violations—especially people who use the cell phone,” Mortlock said.
Almost half of the total infringements are considered “illegal.” Using the cell phone, violating the red light, and not wearing a seat belt make up over half of those violations. In addition, approximately 150 percent more violations happen in the morning than in the afternoon.

Some students agree that the three to four month process of collecting data was quite tedious but helpful because they were able to apply the techniques they learned in class to life studies.

“Without a project like this, we would never have understood why studies are so hard to conduct and how to collect data,” Daisy said.

As stated in the study results, “it is imperative to the safety of the Harker community that the school’s students and parent drivers become more aware of the dangerous driving situation on campus and take steps to monitor their irresponsible driving habits.”

The students hope that the members of the Upper School community will change their driving habits for a safer environment.