St. Mary’s County Public Schools (SMCPS) is launching a new school bus stop-arm camera program. The cameras were installed on two dozen of the system’s more than 200 buses in the last few weeks and the cameras will go “live” sometime in April.
The cameras monitor in real time drivers who fail to obey the stop arm and red lights indicating that students are being picked up or discharged. The cameras are owned and operated by a contract vendor, American Traffic Solutions. The violations are sent to the contractor which verifies that the motorist has failed to stop.
Once the contractor verifies that in their estimate there was a violation, it is then sent to the St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Office. They have hired someone to look at the alleged violation and determine if based on law a violation actually has occurred. They then respond either with a yes or no to the contractor.
A violation carries with it a $125 civil penalty and no points are assessed. The cameras register the license plate number and not the face of the driver so the violation goes with the vehicle and not the driver. If the owner of the vehicle fails to pay the fine then their vehicle registration renewal is held up until it is paid.
Each bus has two cameras: one that records what it happening on the road next to the bus and the other that verifies that the stop arm is in fact extended as a warning to stop.
The bus exterior cameras were authorized almost a year ago by the St. Mary’s County Commissioners. Since then the school system and the sheriff’s office have been choosing a vendor and getting ready to implement the program.
Director of Transportation Jeffrey Thompson told the school board on Wednesday that the program is being administered by the sheriff’s office and that there is no cost to the school system or the county. The vendor receives the fines up to a certain amount and after that the fines are split with the county.
School board member Cathy Allen expressed concern that the cameras were only on a few buses. Thompson said the buses were chosen jointly by the vendor and the school system based on advice from the bus drivers. Previously the drivers had to record the license plate and identify the driver, when their attention should have been focused on the students, Thompson said.
The school system believes that students are in danger when the red lights are run. The extent of the problem was verified during a national count that the schools participated in back in October. Half of the buses in the county participated and during one day 85 violations were reported in the county and 3,392 statewide.
