There are 35 MCPS school buses outfitted with cameras to catch drivers who illegally pass when the bus is stopped, enough to net Montgomery County $78,250 in fines since the program started in January.
The Montgomery County Police Department, which reviews all camera citations, will give the Council’s Public Safety Committee an update on the program on Monday.
There have been 733 citations issued for vehicles caught on camera illegally passing buses with stop arms extended at bus stops. Of those, 607 of the $125 fines have been paid. Sixteen cases have been scheduled for court.
The county began the program in January with 25 buses outfitted with the cameras. The original plan was to outfit an additional 75 buses with cameras to allow the cameras to be moved along high- priority routes as needed. Police have outfitted an additional 10 buses with cameras and apparently have no immediate plans to wire up more.
Councilmembers will likely ask police officials whether they intend to install the remainder of the planned cameras. They may also ask for data that shows where the most violations are happening and if there are any other trends in terms of routes or road types.
In just the program’s first three months, the cameras resulted in 272 citations. In April, police projected that about 100 citations would be issued per month during the 2014-2015 school year. That would mean 1,000 total citations over a 10-month school calendar. Assuming a 90 percent collection rate, that would net the county about $112,500 in revenue.
The county is paying $250,000 annually for its three-year contract with the vendor for the program.
