Students, concerned with their own safety put pen to paper and voiced their concerns.

Last spring, several students came together and created a presentation in their AP Government class that expressed how they felt towards the traffic pattern exiting the parking deck onto Rock Springs Dr.

During designated hours the street is a one-way, preventing students from turning left out of the parking deck and student lot.

As buses fill Rock Springs to the right of the deck, students were forced to turn right and then left up Pine Ave.

Students wanted to increase traffic flow and limit the number of cars on Pine Ave.

“We looked up Google maps of the streets and showed all the different routes we could go instead of going by the buses because we realized that’s even more dangerous,” senior Hannah Snow said.

The collaborations of  the students took the interest of Wake Forest Mayor Vivian Jones.

“I first heard about the traffic situation last spring after school was out when Mr. Mattingly sent me a explaining the problem they perceived of one-way signs when exiting the parking deck.”

Snow was proud of the class’s work, but expressed her doubts about the outcome.

“We tried really hard because it was going to be shown to big names in our town. None of us thought it would really work. We wanted to pretend to make a difference and actually ended up really making a difference,” Snow said.

The student proposal went before the town board Sept. 15 and was accepted. The one way signs will be removed; however, access to Rock Springs from Stadium Rd from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m.

From the board meeting, the Wake Weekly tweeted, “DL: As a former resident of Pine Ave, this is a great idea. The kids’ cars are like a noisy caravan coming down Pine.” The newspaper twitter account also commented that, “Students suggested it. A real life lesson.”

Junior Jules Micchia participated in creating the presentation and explained the strategy of the students.

Micchia said, “We thought it could be pretty successful if we focused on the fact that it was more safety than a traffic problem.”