Bus arm cameras record vehicles passing school buses

By Alice Gerard

Senior Contributing Writer

Since Feb. 24, 12 vehicles have been recorded as having driven past a stopped school bus, based on data obtained from cameras attached to school bus stop arms, said Grand Island Central School District Superintendent Dr. Brian Graham at a March 31 joint meeting of the Grand Island Town Board and the Grand Island Central School District Board of Education.

“We’ve been engaged in a pilot study, where we’ve had three school buses that have stop arm bus cameras attached to their buses,” he said. “(Transportation Supervisor) Theresa Alizadeh worked with (Assistant Superintendent for School Business and Finance) Bob Merkle and a particular company to identify which buses might have a lot of activity where vehicles pass a stopped school bus.”

Graham noted Alizadeh and Merkle chose particular buses for the pilot project because “they were buses that have frequent concerns with vehicles passing them.

“Only three buses have the cameras,” he said. “This is really a pilot. We’re just collecting data. We will report back to the School Board and the town with that data. It looks like the end of the school year. To better understand if this is an initiative (and if) we should continue adding cameras on more of our buses. Obviously, this is not an opportunity to make money, but to educate the community on how important it is to stop when a school bus is stopped.

“Bob Merkle shared a video of a vehicle that was very close to passing a stopped school bus. In this video that Bob and I reviewed today, a vehicle was approaching one of our buses. The red lights were flashing. As the stop sign started to come out, the vehicle passed. So, we were able to see the camera capture the license plate of the vehicle and the identification of the vehicle. It was impressive technology to review. Multiple camera angles of this incident. So, Bob and I, when we reviewed that data, weren’t sure immediately if it was a true definition of passing a stopped school bus, but, ultimately, 12 incidents since Feb. 24 is 12 too many.”

School Board Trustee Sue Marston said, “I don’t want to be sitting at this table during a moment of silence for a child who was hit by a car that passed a school bus after having a conversation like this. I know we have to do our due diligence, and we have to know what the system is and what it’s going to cost us. From the seat I’m sitting in, there is no price tag that is too much for the safety of our children. That’s just my opinion. I know we have to have the correct legislation in place, and we have to know what our system is and what the time is. But we have had 12 incidents (with) three buses in a couple of weeks. What’s the likelihood it’s going to happen?”

“I’m always going to be an advocate for it for the same reasons that Sue said, as long as the legislation and the law permit,” Trustee Danielle Bruno said.

“We’re ready to roll if you guys are,” Town Councilman Tom Digati said. “It would never be a cost-saving revenue because of the nature of what we’re dealing with. Once the word gets out that you pass a school bus, and you’re going to get a very unpleasant letter in the mail, people will probably stop passing school buses, which is ultimately the goal.”

“I think the goal is compliance, not punishment,” Supervisor Peter Marston said. “If we work together, we can all get there.”

“You’re going to see reduced numbers,” Trustee Roger Broeker said. “You’re going to see the deterrent of it all so you can get it down to a more manageable level.”

“We’ve worked with town attorneys. We’ve looked at sample language we’ve gotten from your vendor. They say it’s absolutely doable,” Marston said, noting the town attorney said he would want to discuss this in greater detail with the company that is currently administering the pilot program, if the decision is made to expand it.

“We’re not afraid to do the work,” Marston said. “We need to understand how much work is involved for the town. We need to sit with the vendor so we know what we’re going to get from their end product.”

“We wouldn’t review any of the videos,” Merkle explained. “They would be reviewed by AI and the company before they’re sent to the town, where they would have to be reviewed by an officer before a citation was issued.”

Digati said, “From what I understand, the (school district’s) transportation department would do the initial review. They would go through it and it would make it from there to the town police.”

Marston said, “A citation would have to be issued by a police officer, not by a system or a computer AI. It needs human verification or authentication.”

Merkle explained how the process works during the trial phase.

“Part of the system, they call it a panic button essentially, but it’s a button that the driver can press when they see somebody passing,” she said. “Currently, AI is not doing all the reviewing of the video. It’s really essentially the driver hitting the button. So, those 12 instances were when the driver initiated that button to say somebody passed it. There’s not a whole ton of evaluation going on right now, other than how many times it’s happened.”

School Board Trustee Sherry Steffans said, “I think it’s important to understand how it works, what needs to be done, what’s involved. I know that other communities are doing it currently: Niagara Falls, Buffalo. It might be a good idea to touch base with how they’re handing it and how it’s affecting them so we can get as much data as possible.”

Each day, Graham said, the school district sends out anywhere from 30 to 40 buses to transport Island students to school.