Background
In 2017 the Bellevue School District implemented a pilot stop paddle camera program on two of its buses. The experiment showed an average of three violations a day just on these two buses. In October 2018 the district installed stop paddle cameras on 20 percent of its bus fleet. The goal of this program is to improve student safety.
There was a grace period in December 2018 when violators of bus safety laws received a warning and not a citation. Enforcement began when students returned from Winter Break in January 2019 and drivers who have illegally passed a school bus since then have been issued a $419 ticket.
The program continues to run throughout the summer months for our students attending summer school. During the summer of 2019 we installed eight more cameras on our buses, with a focus on buses that transport our special education students.
We feel fortunate that a student has not been severely hurt and want to put preventive measures in place to make the public aware of the issue and reduce the likelihood of an accident. Our hope is that a greater number of drivers will stop as required for school buses and the number of violations will diminish over the lifetime of this program.