The City of York, Nebraska has made the novel decision to install camera units in school buses this year. Transportation and school officials have touted the ease in which incidents of students acting out on buses are deterred and controlled.
The York News-Times reported how Principal Brian Tonniges and Transportation Director Troy Rowe handled a recent occurrence involving a middle school student. Tonniges and Rowe sat down and watched a recoding of the incident several times and came to a decision. “We had the discipline issue handled in 20 minutes,” said Tonniges.
Prior to the advent of the camera systems, Tonniges would have had to interview a number of students and adjudicate between several different versions of the story. The new system allows justice to be meted out efficiently and accurately.
Bus drivers are also equipped with a panic button of sorts which they can press when students are acting up. The camera then records the happenings of that precise moment in order to facilitate easy review. According to Rowe, this has resulted in a significant improvement in school bus behavior.
The cameras are also serve to ensure driver safety. The systems include a function that record bus speed, exact location, direction of travel, whether brakes are being employed and whether warning signals are in operation. This mechanism is expected to encourage drivers to drive cautiously.
Lastly, the units record whether adjacent motorists follow road rules concerning school vehicles.
“The first two weeks of school we had 12 stop arm violations,” said Rowe, “Since then … three. The public is getting educated.”
