Suburban Chicago school district uses new technology to crack down on reckless drivers
This school year, one school district is preparing to have more drivers stop for students to get on and off buses. Their approach is similar to using red light cameras, but this time on school buses.
Brief District 204 in Aurora, Illinois, has made it easier to enforce safety laws by installing cameras on the arms of school bus stops to catch and report drivers who ignore stop signs. The district has seen an increase in the number of violations reported during the first month of the school year, with some buses recording up to 15 violations a day. Drivers caught violating the stop arm can face fines, license suspensions and vehicle registration suspensions, underscoring the seriousness of the school bus safety law.
CHICAGO – This school year, one school district is preparing to have more drivers stop for students to get on and off buses. Their approach is similar to using red light cameras, but this time on school buses.
In a special report for Fox 32, Elizabeth Matthews reveals how it works and what drivers need to know.
Some parents may not worry when their children get on and off the school bus.
A video captured the moment one of the students in a Chicago suburb got off the school bus to head home from school. Just as he got off the bus, a car crashed through the stop arm.
“It should be safe to go to the bus stop, it should be safe to ride the bus,” one parent said.
In 2018, three children were killed in Indiana and another was injured after being hit by a pickup truck while riding a school bus.
The driver told investigators that he did not realize the school bus was stopped, even though the stop arm was disengaged and the lights were flashing.
“A school bus stop sign is a stop sign,” said Ron Johnson, director of outreach for Indian Prairie District 204 in Aurora. “This is a traffic control device that has to stop. Consider that the kids around the school bus don’t necessarily want it to stop.”
Part of Ms. Johnson’s job is to oversee student bus transportation.
“We have about 27,000 students in this district. We are the fourth largest in Illinois. We transport about 68% to 70% of our students, so about 16,000 to 17,000 of them.” he said.
Johnson said 260 school bus drivers are required to take 1,100 routes per day to transport students to and from school.
With so many students on the road, drivers not stopping at school bus stops was already a major safety concern for him and his team. It was also a difficult thing to tackle.
“Last year, we relied on drivers to get the make, model, plate number, and date and time of occurrence. Last year we had 15, and that was for all grades. If you think about it, we had 1,100 routes. “That’s 260 drivers, or 260 vehicles, per day, and that’s going to be a little bit more likely to be reported for violations,” Johnson said.
For now, thanks to a fourth camera, that’s the case.
“This is the first year we’re using this, but we’re seeing more stop arm violations being reported because it makes things a little bit easier for drivers,” he said.
The new camera was installed right next to the arm of a school bus stop and recorded the violation of a student who nearly hit it in the Chicago suburbs.
This year, there is one bus for every bus transporting students in District 204.
For a driver like James Canady, it makes his job just a little bit easier.
“Every day, every day,” Canady said. “I myself have had up to five or six stoparms fly off in one day.”
Canady and his colleagues at First Student Transportation gave Fox 32 a quick demonstration to show how stop arm violations would be reported with this new setup.
At the push of a button, Canady radios the bus service’s dispatcher that a stop arm violation has occurred, and the camera system sends a video clip of the violation to the bus service’s road supervisor. The service’s safety officer then forwards it to the local police station.
“This is much more effective,” said Jeanne Jancas, road supervisor for First Student Transportation.
Although the new school year has just begun, Juncas said he has already sent a significant number of violation records to local police.
“I can eat 15 pieces in a day,” Junkas said.
Just one month into the school year, the district is reporting a 300% increase in the number of reports submitted.
The Naperville Police Department is one of several local law enforcement agencies to which the school district and bus company will send the tapes.
“We’re hearing they’re in a hurry to get to work,” Naperville Police Chief Rick Krakow said. “Or we were distracted. We also hear that people probably didn’t know all the laws regarding stop arm violations.”
According to the city of Krakow, upon receiving the videotape from the school bus company, police officers will review it and decide whether to issue a warning or citation.
“Stop arm violations are very serious. A conviction for the first offense carries a three-month driving license suspension and a $300 fine. A second conviction carries a one-year suspension and a $1,000 fine. A fine (possibly community service),”’ Krakow said.
According to the city of Krakow, the number of reported stop arm violations has so far increased by about 25% compared to last year.
“We know that there are far more accidents than we are actually reporting,” said Ron Wilk, District 204 School Safety Coordinator. “Violations are on the rise. A quick Google search will show similar incidents happening in other states.” We are also dealing with this,” Wilk added.
According to a recent survey by the National Association of Directors of State Pupil Transportation Services, 26% of school bus drivers nationwide believe that more than 66,000 vehicles a day will illegally operate their buses during the 2023-2024 school year. I reported that I had passed.
“Our hope is always that vehicles driving around schools and school buses comply with traffic laws. We know that is not always the case.”
— Ron Wilke, District 204 School Safety Coordinator
The association estimates that if all school bus drivers had participated in the survey, there would have been 251,000 illegal passes and more than 45 million stop-arm violations in one day during the entire school year last year. are.
“It should be very obvious. It’s even in the traffic rules. You need to know this information to get a driver’s license,” Wilk said.
Also note that if the police ask you who was driving your car when the stop arm violation occurred and you refuse, your vehicle registration may be suspended for three months. is important.
This is also part of Illinois’ stop arm law.
This week is also National School Bus Safety Week.
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For this article, Fox 32 Chicago’s special projects team interviewed local school districts about their latest efforts to get local drivers to stop at school bus stop signs. They also interviewed local law enforcement agencies and school bus associations to obtain the latest data on these violations.
