Avon Lake installs school bus cameras

Avon Lake Schools’ entire fleet of school buses are now equipped with cameras.

On Aug. 24, Avon Lake Ward 4 City Councilman David Kos announced each bus is now equipped with cameras inside and outside of the bus enabling authorities to identify passing vehicles.

Avon Lake budgeted $40,000 for the cameras with additional costs being shared with Avon Lake City Schools.

In 2019 the city passed legislation increasing penalties against drivers who pass stopped school buses, going beyond state statutes. Drivers can face fines of up to $750 and up to 30 days in jail.

Kos, who chairs council’s Safety Committee, says he expects the cameras to take a lot of stress off of school bus drivers and hold motorists accountable who continue to put kids at risk.

In the past when Avon Lake school bus drivers noticed a motorist illegally passing a stopped bus it was difficult to gather that information safely. Kos noted drivers would have to take their eyes off of children entering the bus and potentially the road and wait for a safe opportunity to stop before they could record the license plate number and other details about the vehicle.

The cameras will enhance city and district efforts to improve safety.

“(Avon Lake City Schools) are very happy to have this. It takes a lot of stress off of the bus drivers and they deal with it every day,” Kos said. “Like I said we had 11 passings in one day and it just takes a lot of stress off those drivers and it was a long time coming. So it was good work by everybody to work together to get this done.”

The camera upgrades follow an ongoing pilot project adding seatbelts to two replacement school buses beginning in the 2019-20 school year.