Town of North Hempstead Council Member Robert Troiano has announced a plan to promote student safety.

Numerous studies have shown that drivers routinely violate NYS state law by passing stopped school busses as students board and unboard, putting children at risk.

It has been estimated that over 17 million stopped school busses are passed each year, through the country, resulting in more than 136,000 injuries and over 1,000 fatalities over the last 10 years.

Troiano’s plan includes educational videos to teach children how to safely cross a street, to get on or off a bus, as well as awareness programs to inform drivers about the perils of illegally passing a school bus.

The plan also makes heavy use of technology proven to alter driver behavior. The plan has the potential to equip every school bus in the Town of North Hempstead with state-of-the-art recording systems to capture video of vehicles in the act of passing a stopped bus and automatically issuing a notice to the vehicle owner.

“Our number one priority as elected officials has always been the health and safety of the residents of the Town of North Hempstead,” said Troiano. “This initiative is a no-brainer. Impatient drivers who knowingly put our students’ lives at risk by illegally passing a stopped school bus must be held accountable. It is unconscionable that this problem persists, but it is our goal with our upcoming school bus safety program to educate drivers and eliminate any harm that could come to our students.”

The plan could also offer parents an app that will allow them to track the location of their child’s bus and enable them to watch their child board and exit the bus.

School districts that opt-in will have the capability to access data measuring the safe-driving performance of the driver.

Implementation of the plan will begin this month with the issuance of a Request For Proposals by the town to procure a vendor who will develop the educational components of the plan and install the required technology.

Subsequently, the town will hold a hearing to consider opting-in to New York State Law – Section 1174-A at the June 16 Town Board meeting. Opting-in would authorize the Town of North Hempstead to create a school bus safety program, and school districts would be given the opportunity to choose to opt-in to this program.

For more information, please visit www.northhempsteadny.gov