Today a subcommittee of the Child Fatality Task Force, which includes state legislators and child safety experts, voted to support a plan to equip all public school buses in North Carolina with cameras to photograph the license plates of any vehicle that illegally passes a stopped school bus.
The task force had been lobbied to support the idea by Attorney General Roy Cooper, who presented the plan at today’s meeting and issued a follow-up press release.
Photographs of offenders’ license plates would be used to automatically issue civil citations to registered vehicle owners. Monetary penalties would go to public schools.
“This is a proven way to deter motorists from passing stopped school buses without cost to the taxpayers,” Cooper said.
A number of other states have enacted similar laws, including Georgia, Maryland and Virginia, according to Cooper’s office.
Implementing the system in North Carolina would require state legislation to give local school boards the necessary authority.