Last month, TLS exclusively reported the rollout of stop-arm cameras on Lakewood school buses – and they are working exactly as intended.
In yet another video produced by the stop arm cameras, a vehicle can be seen passing a school bus well after the stop sign and flashing lights were activated.
The Lakewood Police Department has obtained the vehicle’s plates and will be issuing a summons.
As earlier reported, the project is a collaborative effort between the Lakewood Board of Education, BOE Attorney Michael Inzelbuch, Superintendent Laura Winters, the LSTA, the Lakewood Police Department and CSO Radio.
The camera activates immediately upon the activation of the red lights and stop sign, which means, if the camera caught your license plate, you must have passed a flashing red school bus light.
Each year, 13 children die on average as the result of illegal school bus passing across the nation. Thousands more visit hospitals due to accidents around the bus. Those motorists were either too distracted to notice the flashing red lights or disregarded them.
“There will be a zero tolerance policy for such behavior,” said a Township Official upon the launch of the program.
The goal is to equip all school buses throughout the Township with the cameras, and bring an end to the dangerous behavior which could cost a life.
13 deaths a year while very tragic, is not a lot compared to skateboards or E-scooters.
The camera doesn’t show where the car was before the stop sign / red lights were activated. They need to add an additional camera showing that the car had enough warning to stop before the red lights came on.
Why doesn’t cameras catch all of the school bus drivers that are careless and at times reckless?
I reported some of them with bus numbers and times, but the LSTA just
ignores the children’s safety.
as a driver, I see waaaay more dangerous behavior exhibited by the drivers of the busses than I do from other drivers.
Maybe we should attach a sign to the stop-arm that reads, “The child of your best friend is getting off now.”
Reply: I have no friends.
My reply:
Did you ever wonder why you have no friends?
In order to assess the 5 points associated with a school bus ticket, a clear picture of the driver is needed. Because tickets are sent to the vehicle owner. If the owner was not the driver, he should NOT be assessed points.red light and speed camera tickets without a picture of the driver do not carry points. If a police officer stops the driver, the bus camera is additional proof of the incident
If it turns out the ticketed vehicle was not it’s owner, then let the owner of the vehicle deal with the driver he lent it out to pay up for charges and violations.