Paint Branch High School has always been relatively safe, graduation rates are high, and safety is the standard according to Paint Branch’s motto. Paint Branch was recently ranked #42 in Maryland Public Schools by Niche School Reviews, a website created to rate the health of high schools across the U.S, which on all accounts is a fair rating given that there are three hundred and twenty three public high schools in Maryland.

Unfortunately there is a major catastrophe waiting to happen right outside Paint Branch and no one is doing anything about it. Old Columbia Pike has signs that warn of the consequences of speeding; signs that say photo enforced and double fines, while also warning of the crosswalk and pedestrians. But how often do people follow those rules? How often do teens and parents who are driving to Paint Branch every morning follow the speed limit? Answer is complicated; and it gets worse when you factor in the teens who don’t look both ways when crossing the road to 7-Eleven.

Paint Branch students know all about this, they watch their friends cross the road with their Beats on, and without a care in the world, while they follow behind. Most of them don’t even notice how fast the cars are actually coming at them; and most of the cars don’t slow down.

“I’ve personally been in a car with a driver who speeds up on Old Columbia Pike coming down to the entrance to Paint Branch,” said an anonymous eleventh grade Paint Branch student, who also voiced concerns over the 9th and 10th graders who sneak out to lunch and cross that intersection. “If a 9th or 10th grader who sneaks out during lunch and gets hit on that intersection, you can guarantee the school will be sued because where is the security? I rarely see them out there anymore,” the eleventh grader stated.

But you cannot blame the school for the driving speed of people or the careless students. Blame also goes to the county because it is clear that the sign “photo enforced” seems more of a threat – even a lie – than an actual fine. There are no speed cameras between the 7-ELEVEN and Banneker Middle School which lies just right down the road from Paint Branch and to which Old Columbia Pike leads to.

Whether Old Columbia Pike used to enforce the traffic laws doesn’t matter, what matters is whether the traffic laws on Old Columbia Pike are being enforced today. “It only takes one mistake, one student who runs in front of a car, one teenager or grown up driving too fast, or some other mistake that could easily have been prevented if the laws around Paint Branch were being enforced,” said a concerned parent of Paint Branch who chose not to give his name.

A school zone has a 25 mile per hour speed limit during school hours, and it is clear nobody follows that law around Paint Branch because nobody seems to be enforcing it. People are anxious to get to where they are going, and I’ve never seen someone going that slow around here; I see cars sailing by at 40, sometimes 50 miles an hour. And some teenagers go up to the very dangerous speeds of 60, 70, and 80 miles an hour on this road for the thrill of it. At those speeds tragic consequences are just over the next hill.

With the added risk of students not paying attention, the school and county need to be prepared for what could be tragic consequences if they don’t take more serious action on Old Columbia Pike. It really seems to be more a question of when it will happen, not if it will happen.