“When I see drivers ignoring our red lights, it’s terrifying, because I know what can happen and I know that all I can do is watch.”
Stephen Narwold is a school bus driver for Grand Rapids Public Schools contractor Dean Transportation. He says parents have been requesting interior and exterior bus cameras for years.
Now, GRPS and Dean are partnering with BusPatrol equipping all 135 buses with interior cameras and exterior stop-arm cameras. These will record passing vehicles when the stop-arm is extended, and flashing red. Democratic State Representative Kristian Grant supported the bipartisan legislation that launched the program.
“In Michigan, school buses are illegally passed more than 2,000 times every single day. That’s nearly 400,000 dangerous incidents every year.”
Motorists caught illegally passing a school bus will receive warnings over the next five weeks, with full fines and penalties beginning April 27th. Director of Government Relations and Strategic Partnerships for BusPatrol, Sam Olsen:
“In communities where programs like this are active, 9 out of 10 drivers who receive a citation do not reoffend.”
The cameras are provided at no cost to GRPS. A portion of citation revenue will pay for the program.
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