Detroit Lakes, Minn. (KDLM) – School bus companies in Becker and Clay Counties will be two of 27 total recipients of a $1.2 million grant by Minnesota Department of Public Safety to install stop-arm cameras on their buses.
Olander Bus Service Inc. and Moorhead Area Public School District 152 will the two grant recipients and the installed cameras will document drivers failing to stop while loading or unloading students at the bus stop.
According to a May 4 news release from the agency, the grant project combines enforcement, and education and awareness efforts so that drivers obey the law and stop for buses with flashing lights with their stop arms extended.
Two of the earlier stop-arm camera grant recipients this year, First Student and Palmer Bus Service, reported more than 230 violations of stop-arm regulations by motorists in the first three months of the year.
In total, through all six phases of the grant program, the state’s public safety office will install stop-arm cameras on more than 7,000 buses in Minnesota, which represents about 59 percent of all school buses in the state.
State law requires all vehicles to stop for school buses when the bus driver activates the flashing lights and has the stop arm fully extended.
Drivers who violate the law face a $500 fine or face criminal charges for passing a school bus on the right, or passing when a child is outside the bus, according to the news release.
Drivers traveling the opposite direction on a divided roadway with a separating median, such as a cement wall or boulevard, are not required to stop while a buses load or unload students.
Latest News
