Wallingford Looks to Crack Down On Drivers Who Illegally Pass School Buses

The Wallingford school district is looking to crack down on motorists who illegally pass school buses while they are loading or unloading students with a pilot program that will launch this fall.

Under the program, surveillance cameras will be installed on the buses and the Board of Education voted unanimously Monday night to submit the necessary paperwork to the Purchasing Department to gather bids for the equipment with a target start date of September or October at the latest, according to the New Haven Register.

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The town will use the services of Redflex Student Guardian, which is also used by Cheshire and several other towns.

If a motorist illegally passes a school bus, the camera records the footage and the video is reviewed in Phoenix before it is sent on to the Wallingford Police Department, according to the Meriden Record-Journal.

The Register reports that offending drivers will have to pay a $465 fine, which includes a $15 fee for court costs.

Portions of the fee also go toward the state general fund and state special transportation fund, and $126 of the fee is retained by the municipality and the vendor is paid $234 to offset costs of the program, according to the Record-Journal.

Read more at the New Haven Register here and the Meriden Record-Journal here.