Minor lateness and an absence due to unforseen emergency situations can be excused. However, you can expect more than one absence to affect your grade. Habitual lateness is also likely to affect your grade since you won't be able to do the activities or understand the material for the tests and quizzes. No one will be able to make up the quizzes once they expire. Once you decide you wish an S grade, you cannot change your mind later in the quarter.
Many students turn to withdrawal as a solution to a problem which can be solved by other means.
I encourage you to talk about the necessity for this option with me or your advisor before you automatically select it. You have until the eighth calendar day after the midquarter to withdraw. Thereafter, you must seek my permission to do so. I do not grant permission to withdraw after the time permitted, unless I would otherwise grant an Incomplete, only you choose not to receive one. I am old fashioned enough to think that taking classes in college requires planning and commitment and that the role of the instructor has something of the gentle disciplinarian in it, one designed to keep you mindful of the promises you have made to yourself.