Rampant Bus 'Stop' Violations Each Day, Peabody BusPatrol Camera Pilot Program Reveals

PEABODY, MA — Maria Scheri said she was, sadly, not surprised by camera footage that revealed nearly a thousand violations of the state law requiring drivers to stop for school buses picking up and dropping off students in Peabody in just the first six weeks of the new school year.

The founder of S.T.O.P The Operator from Passing is now hoping that the data collected as part of the city's partnership with the BusPatrol pilot program will push Beacon Hill to act on stalled legislation that would allow bus camera footage to be used to cite offenders of the law.

"The way the law is now a police officer has to witness the violation," she told Patch on Thursday. "That's just not realistic to have patrols following 30 buses in Peabody each day.

"We have the technology. For a state that is a leader in education and learning why can't we use that technology to protect students and children?"

The Peabody School Committee voted to implement the pilot program last spring after multiple incidents early last school year when students were injured when drivers failed to stop for buses. Mayor Ted Bettencourt also formed the School Safety Task Force, of which Scheri is the co-chair.

The data from the pilot program was released at a news conference at Peabody's Higgins Middle School on Thursday and revealed 865 violations from Sept. 1 through Oct. 30 — an average of 3.6 violations per bus per day.

"I am, sadly, not surprised by the results based on what I have seen from the data collected in other states," Scheri said. "What I am shocked by is that there have not been more tragedies. I have seen the footage of these children dodging cars that don't stop for the buses."

According to BusPatrol, the most dangerous week was the first full week of school, Sept. 11 to Sept. 15, with 184 violations recorded in just five days and a violation rate of 3.8 per bus per day.

"It's a disturbing reality that school buses are being passed almost four times per bus per day," Karoon Monfared, CEO of BusPatrol, said on Thursday. "This is one of the highest violation rates that we've seen in the country. It takes an average of 30 seconds to stop behind a bus and allow a child to get on or off safely.

"We join with Peabody Public Schools, parents, and educators across the state in calling for common-sense legislation to protect our children from the rise of reckless motorist behavior."

Scheri said she is hoping the visual evidence provided by BusPatrol (including the video below) will push forward the legislation to allow footage to be used in enforcing violations that has languished on Beacon Hill for about a decade.

"It makes it real," she told Patch. "You see drivers not stopping for buses on Margin Street and some of these lawmakers drive down Margin Street. It's different than seeing some footage of a driver failing to stop in Vermont.

"There's really no excuse. The bus tells you what to do. There is a stop sign, stop lights, and the back of the bus says 'unlawful to pass.' We need to stop blaming the bus drivers, blaming the children. It's the drivers (who don't stop) who are to blame."

Twenty-five other states have passed bills allowing for citations to be enforced with the use of the bus camera footage.

Scheri said she is happy that Peabody has taken the lead in this issue over the past year but that it is time for other communities to join it in pressuring lawmakers for a chance.

"This is not exclusive to Peabody," she said. "This is happening across the state. There needs to be a groundswell.

"Enough is enough."

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. X/Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)