Think twice when rushing to park on campus

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A parking ticket is found on the windshield of an illegally parked car in Cunningham 5 parking lot.
A parking ticket is found on the windshield of an illegally parked car in Cunningham 5 parking lot.
A parking ticket is found on the windshield of an illegally parked car in Cunningham 5 parking lot.

Imagine your alarm going off ten minutes before your class starts.

Already late, you rush to get dressed and out the door.

Hitting every red light as you fly through the city, you start to map out a parking spot in your mind.

Hoping against hope that you’ll find a spot close to the front of Shima 1, you turn in to the lot to find that the only available spots are at the very back.

Sucking in a quick stream of air and exhaling with a colorful variety of words leaving your mouth, you begin to dart your eyes every which direction praying for that miracle spot to open up.

Now feeling desperate and on edge, you make a quick judgment call.

Having spotted what looks like a mostly safe parking spot towards the front, you turn in and park in front of a wooden wall.

Jumping out of your car in a hurry, a split second glance back makes the spot look questionable but, you’re already late and you pray that you won’t get a ticket.

Every school year, students find themselves circling parking lot after parking lot looking for a reasonably close spot. More often than not, students and faculty turn to parking illegally.

Delta College offers ample amount of parking on campus. Locke, Bud, Shima, Cunningham and the athletic parking lots have more than enough spots to hold any student and faculty vehicles who wish to park on campus.

At the beginning of each semester, the Delta Campus Police makes a social media push to students and faculty about the available parking on campus.

Sending emails to student and faculty email accounts and canvasing the campus with fliers, the department gives students and faculty an opportunity to search out a spot for the semester in one of the many parking lots.

In accordance with parking policy through the campus police, a parking spot on campus contains three lines signifying an appropriate parking stall: two lines on each side of the car and one at the front.

There are exceptions to that rule.

Some will notice in Cunningham Lot 5 that there is a spot that contains two approved spots where the markings differ from the normal parking stall.

It allows for two cars to park horizontally at the front of the vertically marked stalls.

Although there are several instances where it’s not clearly marked that a student or faculty member should not park in a particular spot, heed caution and opt for a spot where you know it is safe.

Allow time to walk just a little bit further and take use of the variety of spots available all around campus.

An extra five-minute walk a day keeps that parking ticket away. If you have questions regarding parking on campus, contact campus police at (209) 954-5151.