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School Bus Stop-Arm Cameras Roll Out in Austin
KEYE-TV CBS 43 (Texas), Jan. 7, 2016

The Austin Independent School District Thursday launches a new safety program to cut down on drivers who pass stopped school buses. The district is rolling out its first phase of cameras mounted on school buses to catch drivers illegally passing. Thirty buses are armed with cameras right now; AISD will continue installing the cameras until all AISD regular route buses have them. See additional coverage from KXAN-TV NBC 21 and the Austin American-Statesman. (KEYE-TV image)

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Boynton Beach Posts Red-Light Running Videos to Raise Awareness
WJNO-Radio 1290 AM (Florida), Jan. 7, 2016

The Boynton Beach Police Department has started posting videos of cars running red lights, captured from the city’s 15 red-light cameras. This week’s video shows a car going through an intersection about eight seconds after the light turned red and it narrowly misses crashing into another car. The department says it is now posting the videos on a regular basis to drive home the message about the dangers of distracted driving.

Dramatic Video Urges Drivers to Obey Traffic Lights
WTVJ-TV NBC 6 (Florida), Dec. 30, 2015

A group that works to promote traffic safety hopes dramatic crash video will make you think twice before running a red light. Many of the crashes featured in the video were captured on the streets of South Florida.

 

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Red-Light Safety Camera Option Explored in St. Mary’s County
Bay Net (Maryland), Jan. 5, 2016

St. Mary’s County Commissioners heard the pros and cons of red-light safety cameras at their Jan. 5 meeting without making a decision on whether to pursue such a program at several major intersections. Arguments regarding such programs often revolve around public safety verses revenue, but Sheriff Tim Cameron was clear: “To me it’s not about the money, it’s about public safety. How do you change public behavior?”

 

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Car Hits Student at Bus Stop, Flees Scene
WNCN-TV NBC-17 (North Carolina), Jan. 6, 2016

Greensboro police are investigating after a student was hit by a car that fled the scene of a school bus stop Tuesday morning. At the time of the incident, the school bus was picking up three Smith High students and was stopped with its stop arm out, Guilford County Schools officials said. Two other cars were stopped behind the bus when a third car failed to stop, police said. That car swerved off the road, went onto the sidewalk and brushed against the student. (WLTX-TV CBS 19 image)

School Bus Stop Arm Violators on Notice
KLAQ-Radio 95.5 FM (Texas), Jan. 4, 2016

The Socorro Independent School District has now equipped its buses with cameras to take pictures of drivers who do not stop when the school bus stop-arm is down. … Most parents and people in the city of Socorro support the new cameras and ticketing drivers who don’t abide by the law.

 

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School Zone Speeders Triggered More Than 1 Million Tickets in 2015
New York Post, Dec. 31, 2015

The city’s new speed-detecting cameras may be the hardest working law enforcers in town — just 140 of them have handed out more than 1 million tickets for motorists racing through school zones in 2015, officials said. The prolific cameras have more than doubled the 445,000 photo-based speeding tickets handed out in 2014. … The NYPD also issued drivers more than 130,000 handwritten speeding tickets and more than 38,000 failure to yield citations. (WNYC image by Kate Hinds)

 

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ATS_RoadSafety @ATS_RoadSafety Learn more about how our CrossingGuard system can help keep your kids safe! ATSCrossingGuard.com

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NHTSA @NHTSAgov Everything can change in a second. Buckle up — every trip, every time. #BuckleUpAmerica

 

Header Toll Roads 480

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HOT Lanes’ Impact Nationwide could be Sign for D.C. Area
WTOP-Radio 103.5 FM (Washington, D.C.), Jan. 6. 2016

Plans to add two new express lanes in each direction on Interstate 66 could be shaped by lessons from similar HOV or toll lanes elsewhere in the country, even if those lessons have yet to be learned fully. In Miami, traffic sped up in the first years after a project that converted a single HOV lane to two toll lanes in each direction, like the proposal for I-66 between the Beltway and Gainesville. See article referenced AASHTO presentation here. (WTOP-Radio image by Dave Dildine)

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1st Open Road Toll Structure on Mass. Pike Visible to Drivers
WBZ-TV CBS 4, Jan. 4, 2016

The first evidence of open road tolling on the Massachusetts Turnpike is now visible to drivers. The All-Electronic Tolling system isn’t scheduled to begin on the Pike until October, but the first overhead structure went up above the highway near the Weston State Police Barracks this past weekend. (WBZ-TV CBS 4 image)

New MnPASS Lane Opening on I-35E in Minnesota
KTSP-TV ABC 5, Jan. 3, 2016

Drivers looking to speed up their commutes will soon have another way to do so. New MnPASS Express Lanes are opening up on Interstate 35E in St Paul.

 

Header Commentaries 480

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Commentary: Deaths Show Need for Better Bus Safety
Orlando Sentinel (Florida), Jan. 5, 2016

In the five years since a car hit and killed his daughter as she was leaving her school bus, Don Mair has fought for tougher laws, but little has changed. Now, he is running for the state Legislature himself. … Every day in Florida, thousands of cars blast past stopped school buses in violation of state law. Rarely are they ticketed.

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Letter to the Editor: Red-Light Cameras Enhance Driver Trust
Daily Record (New Jersey), Jan. 6, 2015

Driving a car takes a great deal of trust. Besides trusting the people who made, service and fuel the car, the driver has to trust every other driver on the road. … We have devices to prevent accidents including the traffic camera. Its presence encourages drivers to not do something stupid. If they choose to be stupid, they know they will be seen, recorded and punished. The cameras should not be eliminated because of the bawling of the drivers getting caught being stupid. If that happens a much bigger trust will have been broken.

Letter: Red-Light Cameras Not All about the Money
Asbury Park Press (New Jersey), Jan. 5, 2016

The Jan. 3 editorial “Red-light cameras still a threat” purported to protect the “innocent drivers who may not obey the law either because they cannot judge distances or are ignorant of the law.” Aren’t all citizens who apply for a driver’s license required to show awareness of all traffic laws?

Letter: Photo Radar for Traffic Control Is Long Overdue
Alaska Dispatch News, Jan. 1, 2016

Collision deaths and pileups on the Glenn and Seward highway, hit-and-runs all over Anchorage, and foolhardy scofflaw driving behaviors are the rule rather than the exception. … Photo radar may have been an idea ahead of its time 20 years ago, but that was then. We have public and private safety and crime prevention cameras everywhere now, and they work to the public’s benefit. The time has more than come to add this tool to the law enforcement toolbox!

 

Header QuoteOfTheWeek 480

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“To me it’s not about the money, it’s about public safety. How do you change public behavior?”
Tim Cameron, Sheriff of St. Mary’s County, Maryland
Bay Net (Maryland), Jan. 5, 2016

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“We see a significant reduction in speeding wherever we put a camera in.”
Wiley Norvell, Deputy Press Secretary, New York City Mayor’s Office
New York Post, Dec. 31, 2015

 

Header Statistics 480

Georgia
The number of motorists illegally passing stopped Gwinnett County Public Schools  buses continues to rise, and has reached a clip of 104 per day on 300 of the school district’s 1,800 buses. Source: Gwinnett Daily Post, Jan. 2, 2016.