This September, 225 of the province’s 1,200 school buses will be equipped with security cameras to identify vehicles that pass the buses while children are disembarking.
Each of the equipped buses will have multiple high-definition cameras, including on the stop-arm of the bus.
They start rolling once the driver starts the bus.
Drivers press a button in order to flag footage of someone passing the bus while the stop lights are flashing.
Rod Parr, a service manager for Nova Communications, installed the cameras on buses in Miramichi, Edmundston, Bathurst, Fredericton and Moncton.
He said the bus drivers he met were thrilled with the prospect of having cameras.
“Some of the biggest comments were that they see multiple violations every day of people driving through the stop signs,” Parr said at a press conference on Wednesday.
There are currently cameras on buses from the Anglophone East, West and North Districts.
All told, the provincial government has paid $690,000 for the project to New Brunswick-based Rock Networks Nova Communications.
Rock Networks CEO Joe Hickey told reporters the cost of equipment worked out to $3,000 per bus.
Service New Brunswick Minister Mary Wilson said there were “absolutely” plans to install them on all buses in the province.
Education Minister Bill Hogan said the investment was made based on positive findings from a pilot program where 19 buses in the Anglophone South District were equipped with stop arm cameras in 2018.
The pilot program was handled by a separate provider.
150 cameras have been installed since November. The remaining 75 will be installed before the fall.
Comments