Header VideoOfTheWeek 480

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Community Remembers Slain Crossing Guard
WTSP-TV CBS 10 (Florida), May 20, 2015

A year ago today, a Clearwater crossing guard was hit and killed at Gulf to Bay Boulevard and Belcher Road. Doug Carey, 70, had been on the force for about 20 years and was working as a school crossing guard. Police say Carey was on the sidewalk at the corner of Belcher and Gulf to Bay when a black Cadillac ran a red light and collided with a car that had the right of way to turn. The Cadillac spun out and struck Carey, killing him. (WTSP-TV CBS 10 image)

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Residents Upset Over Deadly Intersection
WJXT-TV CBS 4 (Florida), May 20, 2015

Residents in Fleming Island are concerned that an intersection at U.S. 17 and Village Square Parkway has become far too dangerous after three people died in accidents within one month while driving through it. … A man and a woman were killed Tuesday after a truck ran a red light and T-boned the car they were riding in. … Right now there are no plans to set up red-light cameras at the intersection, but many people have said that they wouldn’t mind putting up tax dollars to get them if it means they’ll be safer. (WJXT-TV CBS 4 image)

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Drivers Urged to Be Cautious During Holiday Weekend
WNC8 (Washington), May 19, 2015

Melissa Wandall, president of the National Coalition for Safer Roads, goes on camera to urge drivers to be mindful of safe driving on Memorial Day and other upcoming holidays as they are the times when drivers are most likely to run red lights. Last year, more than 3.7 million motorists ran red-lights in the U.S. (WNC8 image)

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Caught on Camera, Vehicle Nearly Hits Pedestrian
WSVN-TV Channel 7 (Florida), May 18, 2015

It was a close call for a South Florida man who was caught on camera barely getting out of the way of a driver who ran a red light. A red-light camera captured the moment. (WSVN-TV Channel 7 image)

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Chesterfield Mom Pleads for School Bus Safety Cameras
WWBT-TV NBC 12 (Virginia), May 18, 2015

A Chesterfield mother is pleading for the county to install a new system of cameras on school buses after her son was hit by a car near a bus stop. (WWBT-TV NBC 12 image)

 

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Driver Cited for Hitting Stopped School Bus
Valley Journal (Montana), May 20, 2015

A 19-year-old Bigfork man was cited last week after rear-ending a Polson school bus at 78 mph. A student who was exiting the bus at the time of the crash was thrown onto the ground and sustained cuts, minor road rash and bruises. (Lake County Leader photo by Trip Burns)

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Disregard for Bus Laws Staggers County with 90 Violations in 1 Day
WSAZ-TV Channel 3 (West Virginia), May 19, 2015

Transportation officials with Kanawha County Schools on Tuesday afternoon released surprising information from a nationwide survey about drivers’ disregard for school bus laws. On April 22, the day of the nationwide survey, 90 drivers ran a school bus’s stop sign and flashing red lights. Of those 90 drivers, 60 were caught in the Kanawha City. (WSAZ-TV Channel 3)

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Mobile County Looks to Outfit All School Buses with Safety Cameras
WALA-TV FOX 10/WSFA-TV NBC 12 (Alabama), May 19, 2015

An Alabama school bus safety bill is waiting on a signature from the governor, and if signed into law it would allow school systems like Mobile County Public Schools to put cameras on their buses. … Last year the school was able to put cameras on a handful of buses on a trial run. One video shows kids running out of the way as a car barrels through the stop arm. (WALA-TV FOX 10/WSFA-TV NBC 12 image)  See related news article by WKRG-TV CBS 5.

Plea Deal Reached in Death of Child Crossing Street to Bus
The Augusta Chronicle (Georgia), May 19, 2015

The family of an 8-year-old boy who died from injuries suffered when he was hit by a car while trying to get on his school bus asked for justice Tuesday. The family of the young man who killed the child asked for mercy. At the end of an emotional hearing in Richmond County Superior Court, 21-year-old Scott W. Hancock was led out of the courtroom to begin serving a three-year prison term. He will have an additional seven years on probation when released.

Failure to Stop
School Transportation News, May 19, 2015

Some crimes are considered inexcusable. For the student transportation industry, the prevalence of motorists illegally passing stopped school buses that are loading or unloading students fits this bill. Too often, violators who ignore the buses’ flashing lights and extended stop signs get off scot-free — completely free from obligation, harm or penalty. Yet every day student riders remain in harm’s way.

 

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Red-Light Running Violations Rise in Summer
WFLX-TV FOS 29 (Florida), May 20, 2015

The National Coalition for Safer Roads released new data today on red-light running, which revealed an increase in the number of violations that occurred during peak periods of summer travel in 2014. According to statistics, more than 3.7 million drivers in the United States ran a red light in 2014. A large percentage of these violations occurred during the peak summer travel weekends of Memorial Day, Independence Day and Labor Day. (WNC8 image)

Caught Red-Handed; Camera Images Assist Police Investigations
Reuters, May 18, 2015

American Traffic Solutions’ red-light safety cameras in Florida are helping law-enforcement agencies investigate crimes by providing evidence to identify and locate potential suspects, as well as re-creating crash and crime scenes. A recent count shows ATS has provided video from red-light safety cameras to federal, state and local law-enforcement agencies on more than 3,500 occasions from January 2014 through April 2015, averaging more than 200 video requests a month.

Authorities Charge Driver for Running Red Light
The Virginian-Pilot (Virginia), May 18, 2015

A North Carolina man has been charged following a crash on Friday that involved a school bus and left three people injured. Suffolk police charged the work truck driver with failure to stop at a red light.

 

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Header TweetOfTheWeek 480

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ATS_RoadSafety 27,000 children ride on school buses in Mobile County every day. The goal of law is to keep them safe. wkrg.com/story/29094718…  @WKRG

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NCSR @SaferRoadsUSA Safe Summer Driving Kick Off is underway with @MelissaWandall here with us in DC to promote #safedriving during peak summer travel periods!

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Commercial Growth Increases Along Texas Toll Road
Community Impact Newspaper, May 20, 2015

The corridor between Lakeline Mall Drive and SH 45 has seen development increase in the past 24 months, creating a rise in commercial occupancy rates and potential construction of new businesses. The boom followed the November 2006 opening of SH 45 and the March 2007 opening of Toll 183A. New businesses are also filling nearby vacancies that have been empty for months. (Community Impact Newspaper photo by David Weaver)

I-77 North of Charlotte to Have Toll Lanes
WLTX-TV CBS 19 (North Carolina), May 20, 2015

Toll lanes are officially coming to I-77 near Charlotte. The North Carolina Department of Transportation just finalized the loan process. Construction could begin in the next few months. See state’s press release here.

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Tolls Proposed as Funding Source for Missouri River Bridge
Leavenworth Times (Kansas), May 15, 2015

The Kansas Department of Transportation is conducting a study to look at options for replacing Centennial Bridge, which spans across the Missouri River between Leavenworth, Kansas, and Platte County, Missouri. … Leavenworth City Manager Scott Miller said the local participation for the bridge construction would be paid for from toll fees charged once the bridge opens. Earlier in its history, Centennial Bridge was a toll bridge. But tolls are no longer collected on the bridge. (2011 video image from Bridgehunter.com, posted by Mark Shannon)

 

Header Commentaries 480

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Commentary: Read This, Then Try to Say You Dislike Cameras
Richmond Drives (Virginia), May 15, 2015

This was going to be a column about red-light cameras. It was going to make the obvious George Orwell Big Brother comparison about losing even more privacy and infringing upon our rights…. That was until I came across an old article from Family Circle magazine in my files. There was a profile of a man named Frank Hinds. His commitment to his beliefs is so strong that he co-founded Jennifer’s Law to push for harsher penalties for drivers who run red lights, causing death or injury. You see, Frank lost his daughter when the car she was traveling in was struck by another driver who ran a red light. Jenn was just 17.

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Editorial: Speed Cameras — You Can’t Argue with the Results
The Staten Island Advance (New York), May 19, 2015

Say what you will about speed cameras — and we Staten Islanders certainly have had a lot to say — they seem to be having the desired effect in the school zones, where a number of them have been deployed and have posted a  55 percent drop in violations.

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Letter to the Editor: Cities’ Right to Enforce Traffic Laws
The Denver Post (Colorado), May 19, 2015

The Denver Post’s editorial page crusade against traffic enforcement seems based on nothing more than a libertarian sentiment that does nobody any real good. Towns are enforcing the speed limit? OMG! Maybe the incentive here is for these communities to make a point of civic pride against a prevailing disregard for local norms.

 

Header QuoteOfTheWeek 480

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“We’ve seen, generally, around a 60-percent drop in speeding at camera locations. That might not be the case at every location, but generally speaking, that’s what we’ve seen. And we think that’s terrific.”
Polly Trottenberg, Transportation Commissioner, New York City
Staten Island Advance, May 19, 2015

“The warning period gives drivers in the Village time to adjust to the program. Our goal is to increase safety by reducing violations and crashes, and we know the presence of the systems will serve as a deterrent for most drivers.”
Yocelyn Galiano Gomez, Pinecrest Village Manager
Pinecrest Tribune (Florida), May 21, 2015

 

Header Statistics 480

New York
The city Department of Transportation reports that, as of March of this year, there has been an approximate 55 percent drop in violations generated from the five fixed school-zone speed cameras that were operating on Staten Island as of that time. Source: Staten Island Advance,  May 19, 2015.