La Plata, MD – An incident that resulted in serious injuries to a Charles County elementary school student has prompted county officials to consider implementation of another possible deterrent. During the March 12 meeting of the Charles County Board of Education (BOE), the panel by consensus gave school and local law enforcement officials to proceed with a plan to equip 72 school buses with stop-arm video cameras. The cameras, which shoot both still images and video, will be used to identify motorists who fail to stop for the signs, which are utilized when a bus stops.
“It’s a nationwide issue,” said Charles County Public Schools (CCPS) Assistant Superintendent for Supporting Services Michael Heim, who cited the Nov. 27 incident on Oliver Shop Road in Bryantown in which an elementary school student who exited a bus and crossed in front of it was then struck by a truck and critically injured.
Captain Robert Kiesel of the Charles County Sheriff’s Office said the county piloted the stop-arm camera in 2011 and implementing the program is part of the county code. While the penalty for running a school bus stop arm is a $1,000 fine, any motorist cited for such an infraction via the stop-arm camera would face a civil violation and a $250 fine. The program would be “violator-funded.” The program would be handled by Verra Mobility, the county’s vendor for school zone speed cameras. Images would be sent to Howard County, which already has a school bus stop-arm camera program in place, for judgement calls. Kiesel said anyone cited who fails to pay the fine would need to go to court. However, they may also request to review the video prior to the court date.
“I love it, I don’t know why we haven’t done it before,” said BOE Member Jennifer S. Abell, who asked how bus contractors felt about the plan.
“They’re very excited about it,” said CCPS Transportation Director Bradley Snow. “It doesn’t cost them anything.” Snow noted that CCPS has 285 buses that make approximately 14,000 stops per day. He added Verra Mobility will give school officials information on what buses should be initially equipped with stop-arm cameras. In answer to a board member’s question, Snow said 60 percent of the revenues from violators would go to Verra Mobility.
“Hopefully, it could save somebody’s life,” said BOE Member David Hancock of the bus stop-arm camera plan.
The stop-arm camera program is expected to be ready for implementation at the end of the current school year.
Contact Marty Madden at marty.madden@thebaynet.com