Driving around a stopped school bus has been illegal for years, but enforcement was lagging. Now it’s picking up.
“People don’t do it when the cops are sitting there,” said Portage Police Public Information Officer Rob Maynard. “I think our presence was deterring it from happening.”
Using grant money from the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute, police cars would follow buses but didn’t catch many offenders. That was the case even when Maynard did so with his unmarked car.
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“Now that these school buses have cameras on them, I was shocked that we issued something like 30 citations for it last week,” he said.
Munster has had a similar problem, with three violations reported during Monday afternoon drop-offs and three more on Tuesday morning, School Town of Munster Communications Director Kimberly Peirick said.
Fortunately, Munster’s bus routes are configured so only a few Munster students have to walk in front of a bus, she said.
Six violations in 24 hours is an anomaly, Munster Police Lt. Dan Broelmann said.
“It’s something that we have dealt with in the town forever,” he said.
“We’re not just going to let it go because it’s really the safety of the kids,” Broelmann said.
Sometimes drivers see the yellow lights and, instead of erring on the side of caution, go around the bus.
Earlier in his career, he handled cases like this. There weren’t cameras on stop arms, but bus drivers would write down plate numbers.
“There’s been enough tragedies that you would think people would stop,” he said.
Portage Mayor Austin Bonta posted repeatedly on social media about the issue.
“There is so much I’m proud about when it comes to our city, but when we have as many as thirty or more stop arm violations in a single week, I’m embarrassed and I’m truly scared that one day a child is going to die,” Bonta said.
Portage Township Schools Communications Director Melissa Deavers said installing cameras on the school bus stop arms is an important way to protect children being picked up or dropped off. “We are seeing about five stop arm violations reported per week, on average, due to the stop arm cameras,” she said.
“We first began installing stop arm cameras on our buses in 2018 due to a high number of stop arm violations noted by our drivers. Thankfully, we have not had any situations in which a vehicle came close to one of our students,” Deavers said.
“Our transportation department has found them to be extremely valuable, as they provide the concrete evidence the police department needs to address the stop arm violations,” she said.
In Portage, school resource officers now review the footage to see whether a citation is warranted. If so, a police officer takes the citation to the car’s registered owner.
“This process saves the city money (certified mail), allows for the alleged violator to personally speak with an officer and ask any questions they may have, and allows our officer to verify the citation and offender are correct,” Police Chief Michael Candiano said in a social media post. “This process is captured by bodycam and is performed by the station officer.”
Using a station officer means no officer is pulled from patrol duty to deliver the citation.
“Hopefully, we’re preventing this from happening in the future,” Maynard said.
State law says that drivers have to stop and wait for a school bus with the stop arm extended until the stop arm is retracted. That gives the child time to get to safety. The exception is where there’s a raised median or a grassy median, Maynard said.
In Munster, bus drivers report violations to the police department for follow-up. In addition, Munster police officers will be assigned to monitor problem areas or will follow buses to look for violators.
The Munster High School resource officer reviews video to try to get a plate number and figure out the vehicle owners. If there’s a phone number, the owner might get a call. Otherwise, an officer can visit the home to try to figure out who was driving and whether a warning or citation is appropriate.
The cameras’ footage shows the car, not necessarily the driver, so that might be an issue for the courts to deal with. Having the officers visit the registered owners hopefully acts as a deterrent regardless, Maynard said.
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“We are thankful for our partnership with the Portage Police Department, as they play an important role in addressing stop arm violations in our district and, ultimately, supporting the safety of our students,” Deavers said. “We also want to recognize our school bus drivers and attendants who prioritize the safety of our students on their way to and from school each day, and commend the drivers in our community who remain aware of and take extra precautions around our buses and students every day.”
Doug Ross is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.