A survey conducted by the Garden Valley School Division (GVSD) transportation supervisor with the division's bus drivers earlier this year found many motorists are not stopping when red lights are flashing on the bus.

Transportation Supervisor Angela Plett, says during the months of February and March, she asked drivers to keep track of how many vehicles went by their bus, and whether they came from the front or back, and the location where it occurred. During the month of February, Plett says 64 drivers reported people driving by when red lights were on, and in March, which was just 3 weeks of driving, there were 46 incidents of people passing while red lights flashing.

The exterior HD cameras can capture the license plate of a vehicle, and they are also positioned to collect information about when the bus lights were turned on and when the use of the stop sign was initiated.

Although the data indicated the numbers are better than the national average, Plett says it is still concerning. "It kind of works out to about 0.75 drive-bys per bus per month, much, much better than the national average, which is 0.78 drive-bys per bus, per day."

Plett says there were a couple of hotspots noted where these incidents happened. A bus stop on Highway 32 in Winkler had the most reported drive-bys, and there were also frequent reports from the city's Gemstone area, north of Highway 14.

Several GVSD buses are currently equipped with cameras on the outside, which are used to see traffic, and can capture license plate numbers of vehicles that do drive by, noted Plett. "Cameras are something newer that's happening in Manitoba, many other school divisions have put them on their school buses because it helps reduce the number of people passing school buses with the red lights on." Plett says it also makes it much easier for police officers if they have the direct evidence, rather than it becoming a "he said, she said" type of situation.

Plett says the cameras aren't necessarily used to "get people and fine them," but to spread the message that if buses have the red lights flashing, to please stop and wait for the bus to turn them off before you proceed.

The exterior HD cameras can capture the license plate of a vehicle, and they are also positioned to collect information about when the lights were turned on and when the use of the stop sign was initiated. "All the data, the telemetrics is on the screen as well, so you can't say they (the driver) didn't put their lights on, because I have a picture that says the light was on, and you drove by while it was on," said Plett.

Plett notes going forward, new buses purchased by the division will be equipped with these cameras, and additional existing buses in their fleet will also have them installed.