WEST JORDAN, Utah — As students from around Utah get set to head back to the classroom later this month, one school district is using cameras to capture drivers who commit violations around their buses.
Marcus Swainston has been a bus driver for more than 10 years in the Jordan School District. He loves the lob because he gets to work with all different age groups and are able to see the kids grow up.
While out on the road, Swainston says it isn't uncommon to see distracted drivers or people going through red lights or the buses stop-arms.
"I've seen multiple violations when I'm driving and with our other drivers and it's scary because you're driving that most precious cargo, those people's children," he said.
During pick up or drop off, a bus flashes amber lights to notify other drivers on the road that they should slow down. Red flashing lights indicate that a stop-arm will be deployed and that everybody is required to stop depending on the side of road.
The Jordan School District has 270 buses in their fleet, with about 180 of them responsible for getting children from school and back. Officials say the majority of those route buses are outfitted with exterior stop arm cameras that catch violations as they take place.
"I'll get the information from the drivers, they talk to our systems tech or the people that kind of run the cameras, they give me video feeds and then I am able to work with law enforcement in our districts, municipalities in pushing those out there," said Paul Bergera, transportation director for the Jordan School District.
Bergera says after law enforcement receives the videos, they can choose to prosecute if they deem it necessary, whether that is a citation or just education for the driver.
The Utah State Board of Education performed one-day study in the spring that involved 95% of the school districts across the state. That study showed there were 747 stop-arm violations across the state. That includes 14 violations where they found drivers passing on the right side of a bus where children get on and off.
While the cameras serve as a way to catch a stop-arm violation in progress, Bergera says the bus driver or even the general public can be an extra set of eyes.
"If they can see who the driver is and get a license plate number, then that helps us to better educate the public," said Bergera.
The hope, according to Swainston, is that everyone slows down and is patient around school buses.
"So we can do our job safely and at the end of the day," he said, "let's just get these kids to and from school safely."
The Utah Department of Public Safety lists these conditions when drivers must stop for a school bus with flashing red lights & stop arms:
- On a two lane road when approaching from front or rear of bus
- On a road with 3 or more lanes, with no median or physical barrier (i.e., just a double yellow line) when approaching from front or rear of bus
- On a road with 3 or more lanes with a median or physical barrier when approaching from rear of bus (drivers approaching from the front of the bus may proceed)
- On a road with 5 or more lanes and a center turn lane when approaching from the rear of the bus (drivers approaching from the front of the bus may proceed
