Lake Central Schools Installing Cameras To Catch School Bus Stop Arm Violators
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A Northwest Indiana school district is tired of drivers speeding by school buses, so it is installing cameras to record license plates.
Officials with the Lake Central School Corp. say the cameras will be installed on every bus starting next school year.
"We'll get a picture of the license plate and the driver," district transportation shop manager Tom Gindl said.
Gindl said the district will send video of violators to police.
The district has already been using two cameras to test out the project this year, and Gindl is impressed.
"The one has caught three violators approximately every week," Gindl said.
District leaders say the cameras will cost about $71,000, and the school board approved funding on Friday.
"It's more of a safety issue. I mean, we have had three students killed in the state of Indiana," Gindl said.
Police said a woman in Fulton County, Indiana, drove by a stop arm last fall and killed three kids boarding a bus. Since then, several districts in the state have announced plans for cameras.
Jill Hough, a Lake County mom whose son takes the bus every day, said it is "a great idea."
"I still worry because an accident can still happen," she said. "But I guess these people would be put into justice and maybe make people think a little bit more."
In Indiana passing an extended stop arm on a bus is a Class B misdemeanor and could result in a $1,000 fine.
"I don't want to see anybody get hurt," Gidle said. "A parent or a child."