SPRINGFIELD — The Springfield City Council unanimously approved a resolution in support of a bill signed by Gov. Maura Healey in early January that aims to enhance the safety of school children who ride the bus daily.
The House bill, “An Act concerning the safety of school children embarking and disembarking school buses,” permits cities and towns to install cameras on school buses to capture images of vehicles unlawfully passing the buses while they are stopped with their red lights flashing and stop-arm extended.
“The implementation of such measures is expected to deter dangerous driving behaviors around school buses and reduce the risk of accidents involving school children,” the council’s resolution states.
The council’s passing of the resolution does not mean the city will automatically place cameras on the buses, but it states that the council is now dedicated to adopting such a policy in the future.
“If you’re a parent like I am and like many others are when you drop you bring your child to the bus stop and you sit there and you watch them get on the bus and you notice cars just totally disregarding the stop sign and driving right through it, you start thinking about their safety,” said City Councilor At-Large Jose Delgado, who co-sponsored the resolution with City Councilor Kateri Walsh.
According to the National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services, there are an estimated 45.2 million reckless motorists that illegally pass stopped school buses each school year.
Delgado told the council that the cities of Peabody and Salem each embarked on pilot programs with a company called Bus Patrol where 18 buses were equipped to capture data on how many vehicles were unlawfully passing stopped buses.
In just the first six weeks of the school year, around 1,800 vehicles failed to stop for school buses between the two cities, according to Delgado. That means there were an average of three illegal passes per bus per day.
The Springfield resolution states that the council will work with the School Committee, School Department, Police Department and other municipal departments “to assess the feasibility and implementation of camera technology on school buses within the city.”
The resolution also mentions an education component and a commitment to directing appropriate committees to explore potential funding sources for the implementation of these cameras.
According to Delgado, if the city were to implement these cameras, they would go on the stop arm of the bus, not inside the bus.
“I thank our colleague for doing all this research and keeping our children safe, and I’m happy to support it,” Walsh said.
Pilot program
The city is already pursuing one avenue regarding school bus pick-up and drop-off safety.
Earlier in the Feb. 10 meeting, the council approved a grant that was awarded to the Springfield Police Department for a “High Visibility Enforcement Pilot Program.” According to the grant order, the purpose of the grant is to help reduce and ultimately eliminate the illegal passing of stopped school buses.
Springfield Lt. Derek Cook told the council that numerous parents, school officials and other community members submitted complaints in the past about vehicles illegally passing the stopped school buses.
To combat this issue, Cook said the Police Department will have police officers posted at various locations throughout the city during peak traffic hours to issue $250 citations to vehicles that are not stopping when buses have their red lights flashing and stop-arm extended.
“Just so everyone is aware…it’s a moving citation, so that actually increases your insurance rates,” Cook said. ”We take this very, very seriously.”
Cook added that there will be a total of 45 deployments for a total of two to four hours each day. He said the goal of this program is to ensure the most vulnerable children are safe.
