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Video cameras in school busses catch drivers unawares

School bus video cameras show Lacombe and Blackfalds drivers worst offenders for passing while red lights flashing
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Rimbey drivers are paying attention to the flashing red lights on school busses, but some drivers in the communities of Blackfalds and Lacombe are not adhering to the rules.

Wolf Creek School Board listened to an update fromJohn Blood, Transportation Manager, and Jennifer Prediger, Assistant Transportation Manager at its Nov. 1 meeting on the video cameras installed on busses purchased for the 18/19 school year. In the spring budget, the Board had heard of the plan to implement video cameras on new busses purchased for the division. The installation of video cameras on busses was mainly due to concerns with vehicles passing busses while the red lights were flashing.

The problem of vehicles passing busses while the red lights are flashing is the most prevalent amongst the citizens in the communities of Lacombe and Blackfalds. The Town of Blackfalds has had 26 instances in the first two months of this school year. The City of Lacombe has had six instances in the same time period.

Wolf Creek currently has six busses that have video cameras in them. Any new busses that are purchased will have video cameras installed. The busses with video cameras pick up students in the communities of Blackfalds, Lacombe, Rimbey, and Clive. To date, there have been no instances of red light infractions in Rimbey or Clive.

In the past, bus drivers did their best to report these incidents to the authorities, but it was difficult to get lisence plate numbers and other important details.

The video cameras have alleviated that problem.

The cameras now allow the drivers or other Wolf Creek officials to submit definitive proof in the form of photos showing the vehicle and the license plate to the police or RCMP.