Photo by Beth Wade
Nine months into the implementation of a safety program that stops drivers from passing loading and unloading school buses, Georgetown ISD has already seen improvements. The transportation director for GISD, Walter Prothro, said average daily violations are down and he anticipates the school district will continue the program. "We put five cameras in the hottest areas that we had, and frankly, based on what were seeing, with those five cameras there is about a 70 percent reduction in the number of violations," Prothro said. Before the cameras were deployed, the school district saw an average of 2.6 violations per day per bus, Prothro said. Today, the five buses with cameras have seen an average of 0.58 violations per day. Prothro presented the program to City Council in November 2013, and after receiving approval from the GISD board of trustees as well as the council, the program launched in March 2014. The buses are equipped with cameras to catch drivers who pass buses while their red lights are flashing and stop arms are deployed during drop-off or pickup times. The buses with cameras travel routes where the most violations occur, Prothro said. "It's based on hot spots that were finding with drivers," he said. "We have two areas that have been hotter than others. We have one out on Leander Road before you get into the city limits and [another spot] on Williams Drive when you cross the bridge going from the east side to the west side." When a vehicle passes a school bus loading or unloading students with the stop arm deployed, the system begins recording video and images. The information is sent to American Traffic Solutions, the company working with GISD on the program, for review. If a violation is confirmed, the information is sent to the Georgetown Police Department for approval. ATS may then issue a citation by mail to the registered owner of the vehicle.