Noblesville, Indiana – According to the Noblesville Police Department, one month into the 2022-23 school year, there’d already been 13 stop arm violations.
Eleven citations have been issued so far for drivers who have been caught driving passed buses while their stop arms are extended and indicating that children may be crossing streets and roads. In collaboration with Noblesville Schools, they’re cracking down on drivers violating the law to keep kids safe.
“One citation is too many,” said Lt. Bruce Barnes with the department. “It’s a class A infraction in Indiana which means it’s punishable by up to $10,000. There also can be a 90-day license suspension.”
According to Lt. Barnes, stop-arm violations have been a problem for years.
In 2018, there was only one recorded stop arm violation. In 2019, there were six. In 2020, there were seven and in 2021 there were a total of 17 stop arm violations for Noblesville.
Receiving a citation isn’t as simple as paying a speeding ticket. Drivers will have to appear before a judge in a court of law. “If you violate the law and we have the evidence to prove it, we’re going to take every case before a judge and try to get this stopped,” said Lt. Barnes.
The evidence now comes from cameras that have been installed inside Noblesville school buses. Before, officers had boots on the ground in and around buses and school zones. Now, they still do, but cameras being in nearly all 127 buses for the district also help aid in cracking down violators.
In a statement to News 8, Noblesville Schools said:
“We have an outstanding collaborative relationship with the Noblesville Police Department across many areas with the shared goals of keeping our students and staff safe.
In addition to NPD watching for stop-arm bus safety violations, we are in the process of equipping all of our school buses with stop-arm cameras. The majority of our buses have them already. These cameras record drivers who violate stop arm laws and we then report those incidents to the Noblesville Police Department. All that said, even if a police vehicle may not appear to be nearby, drivers could still be on camera.”
