All Austin ISD buses will have stop-arm cameras for 2025-26 school year

AUSTIN, Texas - Austin ISD will finish putting stop-arm cameras on its entire fleet of buses for the next school year. 

It's an effort to crackdown on drivers who don't stop when children are getting on and off the bus. 

The backstory:

Right now, about 300 of the district's 551 buses have them. 

The program started in 2016. Not long after it began, cameras captured two students who were hit but luckily not seriously injured. 

Director of transportation Kris Hafezizadeh says since the beginning of the program, there have been about 97,000 citations. 

"That number is very high. I mean, one is too many and can be disastrous, and you are dealing with the life of a child," he said.

The citations are issued like tolls. The cameras capture your license plate and the fine is $300.

Hafezizadeh said they started with about 40 percent of offenders paying. Now it's about 70 percent. While the number of citations is high, the number of repeat offenders is low. Violations are an issue all over the district. Drivers can also appeal the citation.

"It's about keeping our students safe. It's very sad, if you think about it, that many citations are issued. This is scary. I mean, what does it take to stop five to ten seconds right behind the bus when we are loading and unloading students," Hafezizadeh said. 

He calls the program a turnkey operation with no cost to the district. The district keeps 65 percent of revenue from citations, and the vendor gets 35 percent. 

"What I'm asking the public is not about that revenue or citation and things like that. Just to stop, put your cell phones away," Hafezizadeh said. 

If you're not sure when to stop, you can only pass in the opposite direction if there is a median separating the lanes. You still have to stop even if there are four lanes but no median. 

"We are transporting your children. So just think about they are part of you that are inside our buses," Hafezizadeh said. 

Dig deeper:

In 2016, Austin ISD had to get City Council to pass an ordinance allowing civil citations to be issued. There is a bill in the state legislature right now that would allow districts to do so without going through that process.