Driven to keep students safe as they walk on and off school buses, the Hillsborough County school district has partnered with BusPatrol, the technology provider that has installed stop-arm cameras on each of Hillsborough’s approximately 1,000 school buses.
Designed to detect drivers who illegally pass stopped school buses with stop arms deployed, camera footage is reviewed to determine offenders, who in turn will be ticketed at a cost of $225 per infraction. No fines were to be incurred during the initial 30-day public awareness campaign, which started on August 12, the first day of school.
School officials said fines collected go to the school district, which in turn will pay a percentage to BusPatrol, which installed the stop-arm cameras with no up-front charges. Also getting a cut is the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, for issuing tickets based on footage review. The remaining funds go to the school district’s transportation department, driven to recruit and retain school bus drivers.
At King High School in Tampa on August 1, Superintendent Van Ayres said there was a shortage of about 100 drivers, even with the recent hiring of 150 drivers. The starting pay for school bus drivers is $18.65 per hour, with a guaranteed seven-hour day, and opportunities for summer work and extra pay transporting students on field trips.
With last year’s bus driver shortages, “we had students who were late to school because we had bus drivers doing double runs,” Ayres said. “It’s still an area of concern for us, but we are 150 bus drivers stronger this year, so we should see a tremendous difference, as far as students being late to school because the bus didn’t get there on time.”
School officials said bus drivers transport about 78,000 students to and from school, and that roughly three times per day motorists illegally pass a stopped school bus.
Carlos Hernandez, a safety training specialist with the school district’s transportation department, said he drove buses for 30 years, and for 10 years in Hillsborough County.
Illegally passing three times a day per bus, with stop arms extended, sounds about right, Hernandez said, based on his driving experience. “I would say probably two for me, but for other drivers it might be three or four times, depending on the area,” he added.
“That’s the most dangerous time to pass a stopped school bus, when the driver opens the stop arms and checks to see that traffic has stopped,” Hernandez said. “That’s when the doors open and the kids come out, or the kids come in, and that’s when people pass you.”
In prepared remarks, Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister praised the effort to prevent illegal passing.
“This is not about generating fines, it’s a way of changing driver behavior over time and educating people that there are consequences for passing [stopped] school buses,” Chronister said. “In other communities, this program has led to a 30 percent reduction in violations year over year. That means more people are stopping for school buses, and children are safer.”
