MUSKEGON, Mich. — Muskegon Township police are cracking down on drivers who speed past school bus stop signs following surveillance footage capturing cars putting students at risk.
WATCH: CAUGHT ON CAMERA: Drivers speed through school bus stop signs; Muskegon Township Police increase patrols
Police Chief Patrick Vandommelen said his department has seen an uptick in cars ignoring school bus stop signs, with some violations lasting 10 to 20 seconds.
"We're able to see from that footage exactly what's happening and how bad these people are running the stop signs. It's not just two or three seconds, which is still illegal," Chief Vandommelen said. "There's times where it's 10, 11, 12, 20 seconds. It's like they don't even see the STOP sign at all."
The surveillance videos were sent from Orchard View Schools to Muskegon Township Police after upgrading their security cameras over the summer.
The school's new cameras clearly capture the cars involved in these violations.
"Even just this past week, there's been 20 to 30 really obvious, egregious bus stop violations," Chief Vandommelen said.
In response to the violations, Chief Vandommelen said he will have officers following school buses in areas where many of these incidents occurred, in addition to issuing citations.
Orchard View Superintendent Thomas Hamilton said the school's bus drivers initially brought this concern to him out of fear for student safety.
"We saw in a lot of the videos that drivers were looking at their cell phones or not paying attention and didn't even notice that there was a school bus stopped in front of them," Hamilton explained.
"It's a scary feeling to think they're not safe just crossing the road when a bus has clearly got a stop sign out," Hamilton added. "We've got a job to get them to school safely. We've got a job to educate them and keep them safe at school, and then our job is to get them home safe."
According to Chief Vandommelen, violating speeding past school bus stop signs is a civil infraction in Michigan. The statute allows for up to $500 in fines and 3 points added to your insurance.
Both Chief Vandommelen and Hamilton emphasized there's a reason for the red flashing lights and stop signs: to keep students safe.
"I would just say, put down your phone," Chief Vandommelen said. "Make sure you're paying attention. Keep your hands on the steering wheel and look where you're going and slow down."
"Everybody's in a hurry," Hamilton added. "And I mean 10 seconds, 20 seconds to wait is nothing in the scope of a day."
