Halton Region drivers who speed by school buses that have their stop arms deployed could soon find themselves caught on camera, though the footage won’t be used to issue fines for the time being.
Halton Regional Police are proposing a pilot project wherein video camera would be installed on the exterior of some school buses to capture drivers who ignore the deployment of the stop arm that is intended to halt traffic while children board or disembark the bus.
The pilot project, which will be considered by Halton Regional Council next Wednesday, would be implemented at the beginning of the coming school year.
According to a staff report, the plan is to initially use the footage to “to quantify the amount of violations and educate the public.”
The report, however, notes that “methods of enforcement” could be developed in a “future phase of the program.”
“Halton Region, along with the local municipalities and the Halton Regional Police Service receive numerous complaints from the community of vehicles that continuously disobey the stop arm deployment on school buses. The Halton Regional Police Service has been reviewing automatic enforcement technology that can be used on school buses to confirm if violations are occurring,” the report states.
The staff report says that Halton Regional Police have already been in contact with a vendor, who has agreed to potentially provide the camera technology free of charge during the pilot project.
The report says that police plan to conduct a survey of residents as part of the pilot project.
