FRANKFORT, Ky. — A Kentucky lawmaker wants to make it easier to catch drivers who illegally pass stopped school buses.
A video shown to the Interim Joint Committee on Transportation Monday captured drivers in New York passing a stopped school bus.
"These aren’t accidents," said Jean Souliere, the CEO of BusPatrol who gave the presentation. "These aren’t distractions. These are just pure disrespect."
The view was provided by a stop-arm camera on the bus.
It’s the kind of technology Rep. David Hale (R, Wellington) has been pushing to get on buses in Kentucky.
"If there is one violation that occurs of a motorist illegally passing a school bus, that’s too many," he said. "And if there are measures that we can put in place to deter that or make it a penalty to do that, I think this is something that’s very important to the safety of our children."
Elisa Hanley, the transportation branch manager for the Kentucky Department of Education, gave a bus safety presentation to lawmakers Monday.
"Every day, thousands of drivers pass school buses while buses are stopped and are loading and unloading our children," she said.
She estimated it would cost more than $4.5 million to put the technology on all 7,600 buses in the state.
Hale told his colleagues that he has been in talks with vendors who would provide them at no cost to the districts, and be paid through a percentage of fines from violations.
"This is a win-win situation for everybody, that it’s not going to put an undue burden of expense upon our school districts, which are struggling right now incredibly," he said.
The National Transportation Safety Board has recommended that dozens of states, including Kentucky, enact legislation to permit the cameras on school buses.
A bill Hale sponsored during the last legislative session made it through the House, but did not get final passage.
Hale said he is still working on a new bill, but that it would not require school districts to have the cameras.