Blasting past a stopped school bus? Smile, you may be on camera

Ottawa motorists who blow past stopped school buses could now find themselves caught on camera and facing some serious penalties.

The city is joining a numberof jurisdictions by installing cameras on six school buses in an attempt to stamp out the dangerous driving behaviour, officials announced at City Hall Thursday.

"The result is going to be awesome. It's like having a police officer on the school bus at all times," said Sgt. Mark Gatien."You can't beat technology.We need to embrace itand use it to the best of our ability, and this iswhat we're doing today."

A box mountedmidway along the driverside of the busesholds three cameras and sensors, allowing the system to detect a passing vehicle from any direction.

Cameras on school buses aim to catch drivers who don't stop

5 years ago

Duration 0:53

The City of Ottawa is installing cameras on some school buses to fine drivers who fail to stop at a bus's stop arm. Sgt Mark Gatien and Coun. Stephen Blais spoke to CBC News about the project.

A fourth camerainstalled near the rear of the bus facesforward. All of the cameras have infrared lights to ensure a licence plate can be read regardless of weather conditions.

Once the system records a suspectedinfraction, the images are automatically transferred through a secure cell network to an Ottawa police officer who then reviews the footage and can issue a ticket to the offending driver.

Problem routes

It costs $20,000 to fit the camera system on eachbus, so the program is costing the city$120,000, according to Rob Wilkinson of Safer Roads Ottawa, who coordinated the program's implementation.

Gatien saidtwo of the six camera-equipped buses will jointhe Francophone school transportation authority next week, while the other four will join the Ottawa Student Transportation Authorityfleet in September.

Hopefully the problem will become less of a problem.- Ottawa police Sgt. Mark Gatien

"Thosebuses will rotate around the problem routes, andhopefully the problemroutes will becomeless of a problem," Gatien said.

Ultimately, deployment will be left up to the bus operators based on feedback from drivers, Wilkinson said.

"It's really up to them as the people in the boots on ground to identify for themselveswhere they want to see the technology go."

Vehicle owner fined, not driver

The system was tested extensively during a pilot project in 2015 and 2016, according to Wilkinson.

"We heard loud and clear from members of the community and bus operators that this was an incredible challenge happening on our roads," he said.

In September and October 2016, Wilkinson saidone specially equipped bus led to police issuing 70 tickets for illegal passes.

Gatien said thefine in Ontario for blowing past a school bus with its stop sign extended and signals flashing is $490, but is issued only against the registered owner of the vehicle, since police must clearly identify who was driving at the time.

'We're hoping that the media we're getting and word of mouth will keep the number of charges down, but in realityI think we'll get a lot of charges off the get-go,"Gatiensaid.