Alongside a school bus parked at Pathfinder K-8 on Pigeon Point, Seattle Public Schools held a media briefing this morning on the new camera-enforced crackdown on drivers who don’t stop for school buses. 120 of the 379 buses the district is using are now equipped with six cameras each – five of them in the spot you see in the top photo, one in the front-facing rear-top-left spot below – and they’ll be recording video of potential lawbreakers.

School-bus driver Ty Boulanger was at the briefing and said he sees violations often:

New school bus cams in @seapubschools starting today – driver explains why they're needed. Media event @ Pathfinder K-8 in WS. pic.twitter.com/S2WzY7tfBE

— West Seattle Blog (@westseattleblog) September 18, 2017

If an apparent violation is spotted on camera, it’ll be sent to the King County Sheriff’s Office, which is contracting with SPS to review each and every possible violation. Sgt. Ryan Abbott, who’s been the point person on that for Highline Public Schools‘ version of the program, was among those at the briefing, where it was stressed that each potential violation is reviewed by a deputy who decides whether to send it on to the driver or not.

The cameras are being installed on buses by, and remain the property of, American Traffic Solutions, the same company behind the city’s school-zone-speed-enforcement cameras and red-light-enforcement cameras. It gets $69 for every potential violation sent to KCSO for review, and other cost and revenue numbers are in this page from the School Board-approved action item that created the program (see the full document here):

The 120 camera-equipped buses are “random,” SPS says, and you won’t even see a flash. The recordings include license plates and GPS information. Warning notices are going out for those caught in the next two weeks, and then the $419 citations begin. That fee cannot be reduced, SPS tells us, while noting that violators can request a payment-installment plan. Seattle is now one of about 30 school districts in the state ticketing via bus cams.

P.S. If you’re not clear on the stop=for-school-bus law – here’s the full text.