Peabody Police To Use State Grant On School Safety Law Enforcement

PEABODY, MA — Peabody's crusade to cut down on drivers violating school bus and student pedestrian safety laws after three students were struck early in the school year will include increased marked and unmarked police traffic enforcement through the end of the school year.

Peabody police said a $65,000 grant from the Massachusetts Department of Executive Office of Public Safety & Security will go toward the additional patrols to "enforce traffic laws specifically related to school children and their travel to and from school, including, but not limited to, school zone and bus stop safety."

Police said they will also be targeting other areas of the city identified as high risk for traffic incidents.

Peabody Mayor Ted Bettencourt said last month his office was launching the city's School Safety Task Force to focus on bus safety law education, oversee the BusPatrol camera pilot program that the School Committee authorized in March, and work with bus contractors to identify danger spots in the city and how to improve them.

The BusPatrol data-collection pilot program that will put cameras on the arms of some school bus stop signs to gauge compliance with the state law requiring oncoming drivers to stop for students when they are extended is coming to Peabody after the School Committee voted to back Bettencourt's plans for the program.

Spurred by three incidents this fall where students were hit when drivers passed school buses stopped to discharge or pick up children in the city, stakeholders held a series of meetings in recent months that led to the agreement with the company BusPatrol to administer the pilot program starting next year.

Bettencourt has said that he hopes Peabody's efforts will push the State House to push forward stalled legislation that would allow cameras on buses for enforcement purposes and will lead the way for other cities and towns across the state to put an increased emphasis on student safety getting to and from school.

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