Jackson Township NJ Parents for School Bus Safety

The Jackson Township Parents for School Bus Safety is a petition on behalf of our children for the Jackson Township Board of Education to increase their efforts to keep our children safe on Jackson's dangerous 50mph county highways which have claimed the lives of many children already in the past few years. As our town grows, traffic flow increases and the risk of inattentive drivers being involved in a rear end accident or head on collision with our school buses or even worse, the risk of vehicles veering off the road and into a bus stop full of children also increases.
In the past 2 years, the township has also given out more liquor licenses also increasing the risk of drunk drivers sharing the same roads as our children's school buses. By taking proactive measures to minimize the risk of school bus related accidents and violations on our roads, it is important that the school board does the following:
1. 1/3 of our buses are equipped with on board video cameras that cost tax payers $30,000 so far and the bill increases with each new bus that is purchased. The previous school board administration refused to enact a policy that will turn these cameras on and use them to proactively report stop arm violations (when a vehicle fails to stop for a stopped school bus while the red flashers are on). This petition requests that the school district establishes a policy in which our transportation department can effectively work cooperatively with the Jackson Township Police Department and the Ocean County Prosecutors Office to bring those who endanger our children to justice. In the past the district claimed that the JPD and Prosecutor's Office were less than welcoming with such requests which has denied by both organizations.
2. The most common cause of injury to our children in Jackson while riding the bus involves rear end collisions caused when our buses stop on busy and congested high speed roads. In 2008, we had requested that the Board of Education conduct a survey to reevaluate any stops on 50mph roads and seek safer alternatives whenever possible. We also asked that the Board of Education monitor stop arm violations so that hot spots can be identified and forwarded to the Jackson Township Police Department so enforcement can be increased in potentially dangerous locations. Both of these requests were ignored by the Board of Education.
3. Several years ago, our former assistant transportation supervisor, Ed Treadaway worked on a project called the Safe Stop Guide for School Transportation Administrators in conjunction with industry professionals and school districts, including our own throughout the state which was a book of guidelines that set forth a firm policy on school bus safety procedures regarding placement of bus stops, signage and standards. When Ed Treadaway left our district, this program effectively ended. The previous school board administration ignored our request to continue Mr. Treadaway's hard work.
4. Each September the school district and the police department devote extra resources to creating awareness for stop arm violations by involving the local media, increasing patrols to watch our buses and to build awareness within the community. However, from October through June this level of attention is absent. This petition is to request the School District to work with the Jackson Police Department and the Jackson Township Municipal council to enact "Safe Stop Days" in which several days are set aside each year where the JPD and the school bus drivers give extra attention to this problem, similar to existing seat belt checks and dui checkpoints that occur each year.
The school district has repeatedly claimed that Stop Arm Violations are not their problem, that they are not the Jackson Township Police and our children are safe. Unfortunately they are basing their decision on old data that existed long before Jackson's boom period. We are using standards set back when Jackson was a sleepy backwoods community to protect children in Jackson in 2009. It is only a matter of time before our game of Russian Roulette on the highways results in one of our school buses, loaded with children being involved in a serious accident. The BOE is comfortable playing those odds, but as parents, we are not.
Please sign this petition to show our newly elected Board of Education that as parents feel these are serious concerns that deserves