School Bus Cameras Help to Nab Drivers who Fail to Stop: Putting Children’s Lives at Risk
By Yehudit Garmaise
School bus cameras, which have been used legally in New York for nearly a year, are helping police to provide tickets as high as $500 to the thousands of drivers a day who put children’s lives at risk by failing to stop when school buses load and unload students.
Bus drivers say the extra surveillance is helpful because many drivers are more distracted than ever as a result of their inabilities to resist using their cell phones while they drive.
In August 2020, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed into law the bill that allows buses to attach cameras to the buses’ arms that extend with stop signs.
The cameras record the drivers who come near the buses and then camera vendors, such as BusPatrol, send video footage of apparent violations to police, who have the final say on issuing tickets.
Surprisingly, there are some who do oppose the cameras.
“Who’s going to be anti-school-children safety?” NCSL transportation analyst Douglas Shinkle asked.
Plus, she added callously, “Students are rarely killed in bus-stop crashes,” as if “rarely” were acceptable.
Close calls between vehicles and schoolchildren are common, and most near-accidents are not witnessed by police officers, camera backers say.
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