Stop-arm cameras are being seen as a positive by the union representing New Brunswick school bus drivers.
Last week, the province said it would install cameras on school buses around the province.
Iris Lloyd is president of the New Brunswick Council of School District Unions, which represents school bus drivers.
Lloyd said these cameras are something her members have been recommending for many years.
“When you think of a school bus driver, you normally think of the stress as being actually driving down the road,” Lloyd said in an interview.
“But the actual real stressor is when the kids are entering and exiting those school buses and making sure their safety is number one.”
The new cameras will record any time a driver passes a school bus when the stop arm is extended.
Lloyd said school bus drivers deal with this on a daily basis and it becomes a frustrating situation for them.
“The bus driver has got to try and get the make and model of the car, the licence plate number, who was driving,” she said.
“To have those cameras installed on the outside of the buses will actually make that part of the job that much easier.”
Currently, when a driver is ticketed for passing a stopped school bus, Lloyd believes very few are found guilty in court because there is not enough evidence — something that should change with these cameras.
A spokesperson for the Department of Education said the initial $690,000 investment will see cameras installed on up to 225 buses across the province over the span of three years.
Diana Chávez said that covers about one in five buses per school district, with equipment being deployed to areas in response to needs identified by each of the seven districts.
“The use of school bus stop-arm cameras is considered a best practice for enhancing student safety and decreasing traffic violations concerning school buses,” Chávez wrote in an email.
Chávez said the program followed a successful pilot project with the Anglophone South School District that began in 2019.