Montgomery County, MD School Bus Cameras

 

There is an article in the Washington Post this morning citing the intent to install 25 bus stop cameras by Jan 3rd. This would be to enforce people not stopping as buses pickup or discharge children on the way to school.

This kind of camera I can support - NOT red light & speed cameras which are operated with shortened yellows to make substantial revenue.

Fred

Camera

My bus has a camera on the outside of the bus specifically for Stop runners. It's on the side of my bus just below the drivers seat facing forward. We have gotten several good convictions from them.

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Frank DriveSmart55 37.322760, -79.511267

Not a problem

In our district, the bus driver activates the flashing yellows while stopping. If it appears that a motorist is not stopping, our drivers delay activating the reds and the stop paddle until that motorist clears. The door remains closed until all motorists have stopped. It is all about safety for the kids.

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1490LMT 1450LMT 295w

FZbar wrote: ... This kind

FZbar wrote:

...

This kind of camera I can support - NOT red light & speed cameras which are operated with shortened yellows to make substantial revenue.

Fred

@Fred,
There are 4331 red light cameras in our database. How many of them are "are operated with shortened yellows"?

Do you know?

"Shortened" relative to what? "Shortened" when?

Is it a number greater than, say, 100? What is your guess?

John

No Way!

JGerman (John),
Are you suggesting that our benevolent government is strictly looking out for our health and well being, and there is little or no hanky-panky going on to "enhance" revenues?
I, for one, am quite certain that the government looked at all available safety enhancements, and determined that RLC's increased safety much more than engineering, geometry or light timing adjustments.
(Please don't slip on my dripping satire.)

I actually DO support yellow-bus mounted cameras, but I"m not sure I understand my own incongruous thoughts on that.

jgermann wrote:
FZbar wrote:

...

This kind of camera I can support - NOT red light & speed cameras which are operated with shortened yellows to make substantial revenue.

Fred

@Fred,
There are 4331 red light cameras in our database. How many of them are "are operated with shortened yellows"?

Do you know?

"Shortened" relative to what? "Shortened" when?

Is it a number greater than, say, 100? What is your guess?

John

The answer is:

The answer is: 4331, of course!

Fred

It's ok...

It doesn't bother me to catch those breaking the law!!! RLC's, speed cameras, school zone speeding cameras or school bus cameras...break the law get a ticket.. Pretty simple..

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Bobby....Garmin 2450LM

Really????

I said

jgermann wrote:

@Fred,
There are 4331 red light cameras in our database. How many of them are "are operated with shortened yellows"?

Do you know?

"Shortened" relative to what? "Shortened" when?

Is it a number greater than, say, 100? What is your guess?

John

and you replied

FZbar wrote:

The answer is: 4331, of course!

Fred

I am assuming that is a flippant answer, because - to be true - it would imply that each of the cameras had the yellow cycle times "shortened" after that camera was installed. Were that the case, the NMA and thenewspaper.com would have made a huge outcry.

We do know that Oakland did in fact shorten yellow light timings. That was discussed in another thread here.

On the other hand, the Florida DOT has announced that it will be lengthening yellow lights by four tenths of a second to give drivers more time.

Would you please give a more factual answer as best you understand it?

Come on Fred, I doubt it's more than 3500 or so :)

jgermann wrote:

We do know that Oakland did in fact shorten yellow light timings. That was discussed in another thread here.

Forgive me for jumping in but I have to point out that we do know that Oakland did in fact actually GET CAUGHT shortening yellow light times. I wonder how many jurisdictions just haven't been caught yet, or quietly brought their RLCs back into compliance when they started seeing the fallout.

I applaud the Florida DOT for setting an example by at least making it appear that safety is more important than revenue in their case, although this may be more of an attempt to try and lessen their future liability against lawsuits over their $400+ RLC ticket prices.

I am all for school bus camera

Safety of children should not take lightly.

What About After?

spokybob wrote:

In our district, the bus driver activates the flashing yellows while stopping. If it appears that a motorist is not stopping, our drivers delay activating the reds and the stop paddle until that motorist clears. The door remains closed until all motorists have stopped. It is all about safety for the kids.

This would work when the bus first stops, but plenty of maggots go around busses long after the paddle is out and the kids are getting on/off.

Video, Not Still

ericruby wrote:
spokybob wrote:

In our district, the bus driver activates the flashing yellows while stopping. If it appears that a motorist is not stopping, our drivers delay activating the reds and the stop paddle until that motorist clears. The door remains closed until all motorists have stopped. It is all about safety for the kids.

This would work when the bus first stops, but plenty of maggots go around busses long after the paddle is out and the kids are getting on/off.

On my bus it's a video camera and it stays active as long as the Door open switch is activated. I expect that all the cameras on the buses are the same since they are tied to the internal video recorder for the interior cameras.

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Frank DriveSmart55 37.322760, -79.511267