Board discusses school bus camera law

During a recent Rockville Centre Board of Education meeting, the board discussed new state legislation pertaining to monitoring drivers who pass stopped school buses while they are letting off children. Robert Bartels, assistant superintendent of business and personnel, explained the law, which has not yet been implemented in Rockville Centre.

“The state recently enacted legislation for school districts and municipalities to implement,” Bartels said, “in order to catch drivers who pass buses with their stop signs out. It sounds like a great thing, but the state has made it very difficult to implement.”

Bartels said there are a number of pieces to the legislation. The first step is for the village to pass a local law establishing the program. The municipality would then enter an agreement with the school district. Once that’s in place, the school district would be responsible for buying the cameras and having them installed, and the municipality would have to reimburse the school district.

Of greatest concern with the legislation, to Bartels and board members, is that the camera would not be automatic.

“The bus driver would have to be alert and activate the camera,” Bartels said, “which then becomes a contractual issue with the bus driver and the bus company, as well as a safety issue.”

Another piece is that the school district cannot access any of the data on the camera. Additionally, if any fines are generated by this program, 90 percent would go to the county and 10 percent would go to the village: the school district would receive nothing. Plus, Bartels said, the school district would have to submit annual reports on the program.

“So, the state has made this very difficult for everyone involved,” Bartels said.

At this point, he clarified, neither the village nor the county has enacted the law, but the topic was put on the agenda based on several resident inquiries. Having cameras on school buses is something U.S. Senator Charles Schumer has been advocating for, as an estimated 50,000 New York vehicles illegally pass stopped school buses, despite stop signs that are illuminated or clearly marked.

“Nassau school districts, along with law enforcement, have done the hard work at trying to make people pay attention to our bus arms when they flash ‘stop,’” Schumer said, “but more can be done, and standard cameras on our bus arms, activated once the door opens, could mean all the difference to safety here on the Island.”

According to a National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services survey, released in 2018, more than 100,000 school bus drivers observed almost 85,000 cars and other vehicles illegally passing school buses in just one day. Schumer said 75 percent of all school bus fatalities are attributed to oncoming vehicles. To address this problem, more than 21 states in the U.S., including New York, have either begun programs or allowed local school districts to carry out programs to install cameras on school bus stop signs, as a means of enforcement of safety laws and a deterrent.

“It goes without saying that the danger posed to kids with drivers passing stopped school buses is enormous,” Superintendent Dr. William Johnson said, “and I think they made an effort to move in that direction in order to help school districts better provide for the safety of kids as they exit school buses.”

However, he said, the legislation could be better.

“We’ve got to work with our legislators, they’ve got to clean this up,” Johnson said. “The technology is there [to make it automatic]…we don’t understand why a bus driver who should be attending to the kids is sitting there taking pictures. We do meet later on this year with our legislators and I think this is one of those items we’re going to have to bring to their attention.”