South Carolina is getting serious about penalizing drivers who pass a stopped school bus, writes Seanna Adcox of Associated Press. Now, a camera installed on the school bus can be used to prove that a driver has illegally passed a school bus. Before this, a policeman had to witness such an event in order to ticket the driver at fault.

If an injury was sustained, the charge was raised to a felony. Because of a lack of consequences, Sen. Thomas Alexander (R-Walhalla) was afraid there would be tragedies.

Tragedy did almost happen when in May a 15-year-old Gaffney High School student was struck by a car as she exited the school bus.

A picture of the accident scene was all it took. Two weeks later, a bill, sponsored by Alexander, made it to Gov. Nikki Haley’s desk.

“My goal is to have better compliance,” said Alexander, who introduced the measure in May 2013.

“It’s not about the tickets but the safety of the children.” The penalties for passing a school bus have not changed:
• Minimum $ 500 fee
• Six license points on first misdemeanor conviction
• $ 2,000 on subsequent conviction
• Higher penalties if injuries occur The exterior camera systems are not cheap, somewhere around $ 1,000 a bus, so implementation may take several years.

Then there will be the business of deciding which camera to buy, or whether to buy them at all.