Baltimore County is tightening safety measures around school transportation with a new camera enforcement program targeting drivers who illegally pass stopped school buses. As reported by Fox Baltimore, beginning Monday, cameras will record the license plates of violators during the critical moments when children are boarding or disembarking school buses. Initially, offending drivers will be issued warnings, but after 30 days, a steep $250 fine will be levied against transgressors.
With nearly 80,000 students in Baltimore County relying on school buses, the safety initiative has equipped every local school bus with state-of-the-art external and internal cameras to catch and deter dangerous driving behaviors. In a year-long observation, more than 387 vehicles were reported by the Baltimore County Police Department to have passed school buses illegally in just one day, an outcome that Police Chief Robert McCullough finds disconcertingly high, according to a report by Fox Baltimore.
The strategy comes as an answer to repeated incidents where the safety of students was jeopardized by impatient or negligent motorists. "This is simply unacceptable," declares Dr. Myriam Rogers, superintendent of Baltimore County Public Schools, in a statement cited by WMAR2 News. This sentiment is echoed by police officials and the school authorities to cultivate a community-wide responsibility toward protecting the younger commuters.
The new safety measures are self-sustaining financially, fines collected from offending drivers are to support Baltimore County schools, government, and pedestrian safety improvements. As reported by Fox Baltimore, Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski highlights the program not merely as an enforcement tool, but as a leverage of, "new data and technology to ensure that children can travel to and from school in safety." The comprehensive approach is set to bring about a much-needed cultural shift towards more attentive driving around school buses.
