WASHINGTON — Video of local school buses running red lights, speeding and making illegal turns has many parents questioning whether their children are truly safe with systems’ drivers.
The 7 On You Side I-Team found school bus drivers for local school districts, including Prince George’s and Montgomery counties, have received hundreds of citations issued over the last year and a half. The buses have been caught on red-light and speed cameras breaking the law.
Speed camera citations obtained by ABC7 show that buses were speeding 15 mph or more over the limit. Also, cameras caught some buses caught speeding in school zones.
“It’s a huge vehicle with a lot of kids, so you’d think they’d drive a little slower,” Montgomery County mom Any Morantes said to ABC7.
Montgomery County school bus drivers received 100 speed and red-light camera tickets in the last year and a half.
Director of Transportation for Montgomery County Public Schools Todd Watkins told the 7 On You Side I-Team that even one citation is too many. Still, he says district’s children are in good hands.
“Despite the stack of tickets in your hand, they’re much safer in one of our buses statistically by far than they are even their parents’ cars,” Watkins said to the 7 On You Side I-Team.
In Prince George’s County, school buses had 249 camera citations in the last year and a half.
Citation videos show a Prince George’s County bus that was nailed three times in three weeks at the same intersection, making the same turn without stopping, the 7 On You Side I-Team reports.
Mark Dreszer, garage operations supervisor with Prince George’s County Public Schools, told ABC7 that safety is a top priority for the drivers of its more than 1,200 school buses.
“The safety of our children is paramount,” Dreszer said to the I-Team.
Watch the ABC7 video about the findings:
Watch raw video obtained by ABC7 of the school bus violations:
