'It's about time': Terry Parsons gives thumbs up to more school bus cameras

A decision to install high-quality cameras on two more school buses in Conception Bay South is being applauded by a local bus company owner.

"I'd say it's about time," Terry Parsons laughs. "With all due respect, people have been driving through the red lights on school buses for a long time. They do it with impunity."

The Department of Education is expanding a pilot project started in 2013 with cameras that weren't of high enough quality to allow police to get convictions. In 2014, the project continued with high definition cameras. This September, the department added two more camera systems for C.B.S.

Parsons, owner/operator of Parsons and Sons Transportation, said he's even been parked in school yards, dropping kids off, and people drive through the lights. When he speaks to the offenders, they tell him they're in the schoolyard and they don't have to stop for the lights.

Buses seen as 'obstacles'

He told the St. John's Morning Show the same thing has happened when picking up kids on field trips from places like The Rooms.

"The lights on a school bus are a stop sign...and they mean you stop, no matter where you are," he said.

Parson said people said ignoring lights on school buses, "happens a lot," especially in Conception Bay South

"We're standing outside St. George's Elementary, and this has to be the worst area because it's the four-lane highway," he said. "And people drive the four-lane highway like it's the Indianapolis speedway … They see a school bus — not as a school bus carrying children — they see it as an obstacle."

The pilot project started with 10 cameras located in the western, central and Burin regions of the province with the intent of recording vehicles passing buses when the stop arm was extended or lights flashing, according to an NLESD statement.

The school district said to date, there have been 33 incidents reported to police, 18 charges laid, and five convictions. In all instances where charges were laid, there were cameras on the buses.