Poplar Bluff schools are taking the next steps in student safety by installing stop arm cameras on their bus fleet.
Bids were accepted this month from Central States Bus Sales, Inc. out of Fenton, Missouri. All of the equipment is expected to be installed in the next month.
“Student safety is our number one priority and I feel that adding stop arm cameras to our buses is another way to better protect our student riders,” explained District Transportation Director Jon McKinney.
The stop arm cameras will cost about $300 each, not including installation, according to McKinney. The total cost is approximately $15,000.
The plan is to incorporate the cameras into the current fleet and only purchase buses equipped with stop arm cameras in the future.
“All new buses in the future will be ordered with these cameras already installed on the units,” said McKinney.
According to the National School Bus Loading and Unloading Survey, 28 students were killed while boarding or disembarking from buses in the years 2015-2019. Of those fatalities, 18 were due to vehicles illegally passing stopped school buses.
Another survey was conducted in March-June of this year, spanning single school days in 34 states. In those periods, bus drivers reported a total of 55,364 vehicles illegally passing stopped buses. The reporting body was the National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services.
Stop arm cameras make it easier for schools and authorities to identify, cite and discourage risky driving by recording a 180-degree field when a bus’s stop arm is extended, officials report. Drivers who pass the bus while it is stopped have their vehicle make, model and license plates captured in detail.
“Our buses are equipped with three to four cameras already... But this would increase student safety outside of the bus,” McKinney noted. “If necessary, we would have the ability to submit those videos to area authorities.”
The district also reviewed bus evacuation procedures and safety features with its students during National School Bus Safety Week, Oct. 17-21. McKinney himself led several groups in identifying and using emergency exits.
“We’re just trying to better educate the public and everyone parents, students, teachers, and motorists of the importance of bus safety and student safety,” he said.
Bus safety drills are performed every semester for students in kindergarten through sixth grade.
McKinney praised R-I’s transportation staff for their daily efforts to get kids to and from school safely.
“Here in just the R-I district at Poplar Bluff, we transport over 2,000 kids a day, and our drivers drive over 150 bus routes daily. And we greatly appreciate all our drivers and our bus aides to do to help keep our kiddos safe,” he said.