ALBANY, NY (05/29/2008; 0900)(readMedia)-- On April 7, 2008, a Syracuse City Schools school bus made its daily routes with an ELSAG North America digital mobile license plate reader mounted above the driver’s window. The ELSAG cameras are intended to capture data on motorists who illegally pass stopped school buses. The objectives of the project being conducted in the Syracuse City Schools and with the Syracuse Police Department are to educate the public about the dangers of illegal passing and to increase the enforcement potential and the likelihood of convicting motorists who illegally pass stopped school buses. The project is being administered by the New York Association for Pupil Transportation (NYAPT) and is supported by a grant from the Governor’s Traffic Safety Committee and the National Highway Traffic Safety Committee.

It has now been six full weeks of operation of the camera-equipped school bus and the results are significant. The New York Association for Pupil Transportation is committed to sharing information from the project with the public through these regular releases to the media and other public forums. We appreciate the dedication with which the media has covered this important development in school bus safety.

Project Summary to Date

In the six weeks that the “ELSAG” project has been underway, we have routed the equipped school bus through several different areas of the City of Syracuse. We have had a total of 68 incidents of illegal passing in those weeks of observation, thereby averaging over 2 illegal passes per day. When looking at the incidence rate, it is important to note that the school bus is being moved to different parts of the City to identify areas that are particularly problematic.

• April 7-10

40 motorists photographed illegally passing school bus

• April 21-25

6 motorists photographed illegally passing school bus

• April 28-May 2

2 motorists photographed illegally passing school bus

• May 5-May 9

11 motorists photographed illegally passing school bus

• May 12-16

no motorists passed the school bus illegally

• May 19-23

9 motorists photographed illegally passing school bus

In addition to this, the New York Association for Pupil Transportation has invited a sampling of its members to count the number of illegal passes experienced by school bus drivers in different parts of the state in a single week. School bus operators in several parts of the state designated one school bus route and school bus driver to simply count the number of illegal passes that occurred. The results to date:

• 4/28-5/2:

8 members participated; there were 32 incidents of illegal passing reported by those school buses. (these included New Paltz in Ulster County, Shenendehowa in Saratoga County, Edmeston in Delaware County, Bethlehem in Albany County, Bay Shore in Suffolk County, Marcus Whitman in Wayne County, First Student/Syracuse in Onondaga County, Chenango Forks in Broome County)

• 5/5-5/9 :

7 members participated; there were 35 incidents of illegal passing report by those school buses.(these included Sachem in Suffolk County, Farmingdale in Nassau County, Laurens in Delaware County, Owego-Apalachin in Tioga County, Copenhagen in Jefferson County, Bedford in Westchester County, and Whitesboro in Oneida County)

• 5/12-16:

8 members participated; there were 55 incidents of illegal passing report by those school buses.(these included Freeman Bus in Watertown/Jefferson County, Longwood in Suffolk County, Homer in Cortland County, Eastchester in Westchester County, Sidney in Delaware County, Forestville in Chautauqua County, Parishville-Hopkinton in St, Lawrence County, Long Beach in Nassau County and Whitney Point in Broome County)

• 5/19-23:

4 members participated; there were 30 incidents of illegal passing report by those school buses.(these included Alfred-Almond in Allegany County, Fairport in Monroe County, and Carrier Coach in Chautauqua County)

May 21, 2004

On May 21, 2004, a young girl was on her way home from school – she attended the Stockbridge Valley Central School District in Munnsville. She was laughing and talking with all her friends on her school bus when the bus approached her stop which was at her grandmother’s house. As she stepped off the school bus, she could not have seen the car approaching fast on her right. That car hit her as she stepped onto the pavement. It struck her as it passed her school bus illegally on the right side of the school bus. Four years later, our association recalls the name and the life of Mallory Eddy, a seven year old Stockbridge Valley student. We pray for her family and friends who must live life now without her. We pray for her school bus driver and all in the transportation department who shared in her loss. And we pray for all those other students in our state who are just that close to meeting a similar fate if our fellow motorists refuse to obey the law and stop for stopped school buses.