Knox Council, Victoria Police and Holy Trinity Primary School are partnering to improve safety for schoolchildren with a new school crossing safety camera pilot in Wantirna South.
Council launched the pilot program on Monday, with safety cameras aimed at improving driver behaviour to operate throughout Term 2 at the Riddell Road school crossing.
Under the program, two safety cameras will monitor driver behaviour during the busy school drop-off and pick-up times (8am-9.30am and 2.30pm-4pm).
Signs are in place to notify approaching drivers that the safety cameras are in use.
Knox Mayor, Cr Paige Kennett said the initiative aims to protect the safety of both schoolchildren and Council staff.
"Council has about 125 school crossing supervisors at 92 locations in Knox, working hard to keep children safe while going to and from school," she said.
"This initiative came about after Council was approached by the school and our school crossing supervisors, who raised concerns about driver behaviour.
"They reported incidents of drivers failing to stop at the crossing line, driving straight through the crossing or queuing over it, which places children and staff at risk."
Assistant Principal Andrea Dowling said the school community, including 200 students and their parents, welcomed the initiative.
"We're very happy with the initiative from Knox Council and Victoria Police, with student safety our highest priority," she said.
"We want to make sure everyone is following the rules so that our school community stays safe."
Victoria Police Senior Sergeant Brendon de Schwartz said the initiative focused on driver education.
"We're wanting to see driver behaviour change with respect to how they drop their kids off at school so that everybody gets to school safely and every parent drives away safely," he said.
Drivers are reminded to slow down in school zones, stop at the white crossing line and not to drive forward until the supervisor has left the road completely.
