Community Support Needed to Ensure Student Safety at Bus Stops
Safety is a top priority in MSD of Washington Township (MSDWT) Schools Transportation Department as they transport thousands of students daily to and from school. An increasing concern in the community, however, has been vehicles who ignore the “stop arm” on buses and drive past while it is extended. The MSDWT Transportation Department reports drivers who violate bus safety law with license plate numbers for appropriate citations, but it is not always possible to capture the license number.
Last week, a bus driver implemented safety protocols to ensure students were safe from a vehicle who violated the “stop arm” at high speed. We are thankful for these courageous actions and for the bus driver implementing protocols to keep students out of harm’s way.
The District recognizes this increased concern from vehicles in the community ignoring bus stop arms. In response to this, and to increase bus safety in other areas, MSDWT administration conducted a request for proposal process for a complete upgrade to our district radios and bus cameras in February 2022 with bids being received this month. Final documents are being prepared for an April School Board approval of upgraded security camera systems for our bus fleet. This upgrade will improve safety communications and substantially increase our ability to capture license plate numbers and accurate descriptions of vehicles that violate bus safety law.
The MSDWT Transportation Department collaborates with the MSDWT Police Department on bus safety matters. Additionally, all bus drivers have procedures that are shared during safety meetings and training sessions for how they can report any safety concerns to leadership for review and action.
MSDWT plans to continue to remind the community to follow bus safety laws. Our drivers do a tremendous job each day following protocols to keep our students safe, and they need help from the entire community to do so. We need the entire community’s support to follow bus safety law to support the safety of our students. If you see violations of bus safety law by vehicles, please contact the 24 hour on-call MSDWT Police line at 317-514-1259 with the details including time, exact location, bus number, vehicle description, license plate number and video/photo documentation if available.
Additional information for the MSDWT Transportation Department can be found on our website.
