INDUSTRY CONNECTIONS
bus on the passenger side during loading and unloading. Nor, in our experience, do the cameras prevent the behavior of deter- mined or distracted drivers,” stated Harris.
A BIGGER PUSH FOR PREVENTION Last year, Washington state enacted a law
requiring the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction to conduct the one- day survey every year on May 1, but school
districts’ participation is voluntary. Rick Lecker, transportation manager at
Longview (Wash.) School District #122, said his drivers participated but tracked zero violations, which he attributes to his depart- ment’s close working relationship with law enforcement. Tough he has met with a stop- arm camera company, he has not received approval for adopting this technology — yet. “When doing our state in-service this year,
they emphasized it’s important for everyone to participate (in the survey). Tere has been a big push, so we should have more districts reporting next year,” said Lecker. Like Washington, the state of Florida
also conducted its one-day count on May 1. Charlie Hood, who is state director of pupil transportation there and co-author of the NASDPTS survey, said about 15,000 school districts statewide reported results. “I try to make it as easy as I can for school
districts. I design a SurveyMonkey instru- ment that’s almost identical to one NAS- DPTS uses to collect state-by-state data,” he explained. “Some districts told us it’s very helpful. Tey can work with local police on traffic enforcement because it shows the areas where the problem of illegal passing is high.” He added that Volusia County Schools
conducts the count more than once a year so the transportation department can use the results to keep the sheriff informed. Meanwhile, Superintendent Richard Dec- man at Herscher Community Unit School District #2, 60 miles south of Chicago, recently partnered with the county to get a stop-arm camera by 247Security on a school bus that travels a busy highway. He told STN the county covered much of the purchase. “We’re hoping to work something out with the county where they will partially subsidize some of the cameras, put them on a few more buses and get the word out,” said Decman.
POPULARITY WIDENS AS CAMERA TECHNOLOGY IMPROVES
David Poag, operations and routing
supervisor at Anderson School District Five in South Carolina, said the transportation department decided to create the Stop Arm Violation Education-Enforcement, or S.A.V.E., Campaign after witnessing
“blatant” stop arm violations every single day (see
www.savecampaign.com). “Tere have been 14 children killed and 26
injured in the past 40 years in South Carolina due to vehicles illegally passing stopped school buses. Tat’s 40 too many,” Poag stated. He said he hopes South Carolina will
follow in the footsteps of Georgia and change its law to allow civil citations to be issued to drivers who illegally pass a stopped school bus. “We need to hit them where it hurts — their pocket. South Carolina should use the monies collected from the fines to pay for the cameras on the buses and to create advertising campaigns statewide to raise awareness,” he continued. While stop-arm violations have long
16 School Transportation News October 2013
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