Attorney General Roy Cooper’s proposal for cameras on all North Carolina public school buses has gained support from the Child Fatality Task Force and the North Carolina School Boards Association.
The proposal pushes for camera installations to photograph the license plates of any drivers who illegally pass a stopped school bus. These stop-arm cameras would use the same technology used to catch drivers who run red lights.
In October, Cooper asked the Child Fatality Task Force, a special task force established to promote children’s safety and consisting of state legislators and child safety experts, to examine the technology and recommend the best way to implement it on North Carolina school buses.
The Child Fatality Task Force voted unanimously on Nov. 17 to support Cooper’s plan.
“This is a proven way to deter motorists from passing stopped school buses without cost to the taxpayers,” Cooper said in a statement.? “It will definitely make our kids safer when they ride the bus to school.”
The photographs of offenders’ license plates captured by these cameras would automatically issue civil citations to registered vehicle owners.
According to the Department of Justice's statement, the system would pay for itself because monetary penalties paid by violators would go to public schools under the state’s constitution.
Other states such as Georgia, Maryland and Virginia have implemented similar laws and found it improves student safety and deters potentially deadly accidents.
State law deems it illegal to pass a school bus while it is stopped to pick up or drop off children, but this fall, several children in North Carolina have been injured and even killed while boarding or waiting for their school buses.
