Peabody school buses to get cameras to catch drivers illegally passing stop signs
PEABODY - Peabody is jumping ahead of the state when it comes to cracking down on the illegal passing of school bus stop signs.
On Tuesday, the Peabody school committee voted to allow the city to install cameras on the side of school buses. The city said it will start the pilot program with 10 cameras.
The problem had grown so severe, parents, teachers, and city leaders worked for months to create the resolution. These cameras can detect and capture the details of a car that passes the bus illegally. However, current state law prohibits the system from issuing fines. As it stands, the system will only be able to provide Peabody officials with data on where the stop sign running happens the most.
"I am very proud of Peabody that we are the first city to take this action," said Peabody Mayor Ted Bettencourt. "I think it's extremely important. What it did was brought a number of parents, teachers and elected officials together to talk about these issues."
Bettencourt said the city will partner with BusPatrol, a company that specializes in this technology. The city said the contract will come at no cost to the city while it is in the pilot phase. Bettencourt said he hoped to collect the data and present it to state leaders with the hopes of getting broader legislation passed.
Peabody resident Maria Scheri said her sixth grader started taking the bus this year and it did not take long for her to notice a trend.
"During the morning and afternoon commute there's a lot of traffic there," Scheri said. "I started seeing people not stopping for the bus when the red lights were flashing, and the stop sign was out, and I couldn't really understand why."
Scheri started recording incidents of cars passing her son's bus and used them to build the case for the change the Peabody School Committee ultimately approved this week.
Scheri said her efforts will now focus on Beacon Hill with the hope of getting broader legislation passed there.
"Every single one of our state representatives and our senators, you need to start paying attention to this," Sheri said. "This problem is not going away. The violations are increasing rapidly."