By Pat Jenkins The Dispatch Too many drivers in the Bethel School District pass school buses illegally, and video proves it. In barely three months, cameras mounted on buses have caught nearly 140 apparent violations in which automobiles didn't stop for buses whose flashing red lights and paddle-stop signs were activated while picking up students. Starting in February, the district, believing there was a serious enough problem to start an electronic crackdown, began sending buses out with video systems capable of getting visual proof of such violations and the license numbers and descriptions of offending vehicles. Armed with the evidence, the Pierce County Sheriff Department sent $394 tickets to the vehicles' owners. Not all violators are being caught. District officials said last week that 85 citations have been issued, and an additional 54 "events" are awaiting review by the Sheriff Department to determine validity of the violations.Those potential 139 violations in a 55-day period were recorded by five of the 165 Bethel buses that are on the road each school day, which district officials said indicates there may be more than 80 violations per day. One incident in which authorities may not be able to catch the violator occurred April 24 at 224th Street East and 124th Avenue East, between Graham-Kapowsin High School and Orting-Kapowsin Highway. A bus stopped at 8:07 a.m. on two-lane road had red lights and paddle-stop activated an door open for students to board when an automobile sped past on right side on shoulder, narrowly missing three elementary school students who had started to move toward bus. They weren't injured, but the car was close enough that one student thought a tire might have brushed her foot, said Krista Carlson, a district spokeswoman. A video camera inside the bus above the driver's head captured a split-second image of the car passing. The bus wasn't one of the ones with an exterior camera. No one got the vehicle's license number, but it was described by witnesses as an older, white SUV with a sunroof and a roof rack. Tacoma-Pierce County Crimestoppers is offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and charges against the driver. Bethel superintendent Tom Seigel hopes the law can come down harder on such incidents in order to improve safety for students. In a letter to Sheriff Paul Pastor, Seigel said the school district "appreciates the cooperation and coordination" of the Sheriff Department in the video camera system, but "it is time for this part of the county to receive increased law enforcement." The district and county authorities launched the video system after a five-day test of it last year recorded 23 violations.American Traffic Solutions (ATS), a company that also makes camera systems for catching red-light runners, is the contractor for Bethel's bus cameras. Bethel is one of the first school districts in Washington to use photo-enforcement of traffic laws that require cars to stop on two-lane roads when school buses' red lights are flashing and stop paddles are extended. State law passed by the Legislature in 2011 allows cameras on buses to catch violators. The Bethel School Board later authorized the district to launch its camera system. Motorists that don't obey the law are a serious safety issue nationally, according to a study in 2011 by the Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services. The study found approximately 76,000 illegal passes of buses occurred in a combined 28 states in one day. That would equate to 13 million infractions in a full school year, officials said.
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