At the monthly meeting of the DeKalb County Board of Education last week, the board began discussion of the installation of cameras to capture images of people ignoring school bus stop signs.
The proposed camera systems would begin recording, either automatically or manually, depending on the system used, when a bus stops to allow students to board or disembark. Transportation Supervisor Jimmy Sprague told the board that drivers ignoring bus stop signs has been a problem for some time.
"This is a very serious issue," Sprague shared. "I drive a bus from time to time, and I often see people go flying right by the bus while the sign is out. It makes me cringe to think what could happen to one of our kids when they do that. As of today I have sent 29 reports to the state on people my drivers and I have caught on the routes."
The camera systems would record a video image of the violator’s license plate, and the driver’s face, to aid in identifying them. "One of the systems is a manual system that drivers would use when they pull up to a stop and they see traffic is not going to stop," Sprague added. "They can push a panic button, which turns the cameras on to catch all the images. There is another system that is more expensive, but it is fully automated. When the stop sign is deployed, it all comes on."
The transportation supervisor said that while the automated system was impressive, the manual cameras would likely be more cost effective. "In my opinion, the panic button is probably the better bang for the buck. I am still waiting on confirmation as to whether this would stand up in court so we could prosecute someone. I've researched this and found that other states, including Georgia, Alabama, and Indiana use them, and they get good results. They've cut their stop-arm issues by 60 percent. Right now I can fill out a report and send it to the state, but I must have a tag number. Usually when this issue comes about, it happens so quickly when the car goes by the bus, you don't have a chance to get a tag number. Sometimes they'll catch up with a car at a stop light and get a tag number, then and I can fill out my report and send it to the state."
Board Chairman W.J. (Dub) Evins, III agreed that the problem is a serious one.
"I've seen some of this first hand," Evins told the board. "I actually saw what turned out to almost be an accident with a special education bus just yesterday, when a vehicle turned in front of it. When these stop signs go out and these buses stop, there is a period of time, according to state law, when the flashing lights come on and the stop sign comes out, that means cars must stop. It's a matter of the general public, when they're driving down the road, especially down a five-lane highway, paying close attention. Consider if this were your child getting off that bus, would you pay more attention? There have been a few citations written. I'm not in favor of writing a lot of citations, but I am in favor of giving fair warning. In discussing this matter, I hope that people will realize that there are upwards of 90 passengers who are children and teenagers on these buses, and getting them to school and back home safely is of utmost importance. We need the general public to understand this. We have 3,000 students in this school system, and 2,000 of them ride the bus. It’s very important that we look at doing something."
While the board took no action on the matter at the Thursday night meeting. They discussed the possibility of purchasing one of the systems to move from bus to bus. This would allow the school system to evaluate how effective the method would be, while offenders would have no way of knowing which bus the system is mounted on.
