TRI In The News

Albemarle School Board Discusses External School Bus Cameras

From The Daily Progress

Two Albemarle County school buses equipped with external cameras in a pilot program revealed nearly 80 vehicles over a 30-day period illegally passing stopped buses. Although school staff says expanding the program to all of its buses would enhance the safety of students at bus stops, some School Board members at its meeting Thursday voiced privacy and financial concerns.

Since January, staff has run the pilot program, said William Deane, assistant director of planning and technology for county schools. They are fitted with cameras supplied by Australia-based Redflex Holdings. The data revealed 79 violations in one month along U.S. 29 north of Charlottesville, Hydraulic Road and West Rio Road.

“Forty-one drivers, which is about a quarter of our staff, reported at least one violation per week,” Deane said. “There are at least 6,000 violations that occur per year in the county.”

Deane said, without cameras, school bus drivers are relegated to note passing vehicles’ make, model and license plates, distracting drivers from students’ safety.

“We see the need to have another enforcement mechanism to keep our students safe,” he said.

If implemented, the surveillance equipment would send data to a Redflex operating center, where staff would review the material, trim it to reveal only identifying characteristics of the passing vehicle, and then send the information to county, Deane said. Police would then issue a ticket and fine to the owner of the identified vehicle.

The added benefit of the school bus surveillance program, Deane said, is that system is installed at no cost to the county and the locality receives approximately one-third of the fine charged to recorded offenders.

Prince George County Public Schools was the first division in the state to adopt a bus surveillance program with Redflex, Deane said. Charlottesville City Public Schools is currently pursuing a pilot test with the program this month.

School Board member Diantha McKeel said she worried the program would raise concerns in the community that the county was only pursuing the option for financial purposes.

“This leaves a bad taste in my mouth,” McKeel said. “It makes it look like we’re doing this for the money. We’re doing this for the safety of the children. Maybe we’ll make some money, but we’ll be above board about that.”

The county installed a red light camera at the intersection of U.S. 29 and Rio Road in 2010 via Redflex.

Between Dec. 12, 2010 and Jan. 7, 2011, 412 tickets were mailed to red light offenders. At $50 a ticket, that represented potential revenue of $20,600 at the time.

In January 2011, members of the community and the Rutherford Institute criticized the cameras as “revenue-raising devices.”

The county defended the cameras and argued that both Redflex and the locality had complied by state code in all transactions and operations.

McKeel urged her fellow board members to consider options that could supplement the surveillance program, like public service announcements and educational programs.

“I don’t want to lose sight of the fact that everyone who takes a driver’s test in the state of Virginia learns it’s illegal to pass a stopped school bus,” said Superintendent Pam Moran. “It’s not like school buses are new on the roads.”

School Board member Jason Buyaki and Chairman Steve Koleszar, expressed concerns that predators and other dangerous individuals could commandeer the system and use the cameras for more nefarious purposes.

“Any evil person bent on doing evil could hack into the system and see what children are getting on and when and where children are getting on,” Buyaki said.

“I, to a certain extent, share some of Jason’s concerns about Big Brother,” said Koleszar.

Buyaki said he was uncomfortable discussing matters further without including the public, or at least publishing the pilot test’s results for public viewing.

Although the camera program is not up for a public hearing, the School Board is encouraging residents at its June meeting in Lane Auditorium of the County Office Building to comment on the proposal.