By Tara Linderborg-Cordry

Every year around the end of August, Humboldt County is flooded with students eager to continue their education. During this time, locals express their concerns about students’ driving skills. Many students find that Arcata’s one way streets pose a significant learning curve, and feel they must adapt to the new driving conditions. 

Students have many ways of getting to campus, with commuters coming from nearby towns like Eureka or Mckinleyville. However, the 2025-2026 survey at Cal Poly Humboldt (CPH) found that only about 27% of students reported driving to campus alone. The university actively promotes other forms of transportation with programs like Jack Pass, providing free access to public transportation for students. Higher volume of traffic might also play a role in the number of incidents. The Federal Highway administration found that intersections with higher traffic volumes usually experience more collisions than those with less traffic.

Arcata went from 25 traffic-related victims killed or injured in 2021 to 45 in 2023, an 80% increase in two years according to data from the California Office of Traffic Safety. There’s significant overlap between areas identified as safety priorities by the city and routes frequently used by students. The report focuses on areas needing safety improvements, including bike lane and crosswalk enhancements. These include busy streets such as L.K. Wood Boulevard and 11th Street. Around the same time, CPH enrollment increased by around 4%. However, this statistic began during the Covid-19 pandemic, consequently both university enrollment and transportation have changed. 

Lt. Keith Altizer with the Arcata Police Department says that there is an increase in people and cars on the road when students arrive. He warns that you should always watch for bicyclists and pedestrians when driving and never assume someone can see you. He emphasizes that driving experience is important, and many students are relatively new drivers. Arcata’s one-way roads and confusing traffic directions may be risk factors for students new to the area. 

Altizer said, “Distracted driving —whether it be cell phones, eating, or changing radio stations — increases the potential for a collision” and urges students to exercise caution on the roads.

Arcata local Brendan Benas has lived in Arcata for over 14 years and thinks that students may not be the only problem. While he said that newer drivers do often cause problems, he thinks older drivers can be equally as problematic. 

Senior psychology major Skylar Rawitch, said that the one-way streets were particularly confusing when she first arrived in Humboldt. She noted that she’s seen more bad drivers on the road since freshmen arrived on campus. 

“You don’t have to be an asshole when you drive here,” said Rawitch.

Tara Linderborg-Cordry is a Junior and Journalism student at Cal Poly Humboldt. She is interested in Political and Healthcare communications and hopes to pursue a career in Public Relations. She can be reached at trl39@humboldt.edu.