School crossing guards in Tasmania will start wearing body cameras in a trial to record and deter bad driver behaviour, with one guard saying he has narrowly avoided being run over "many times".
Transport Minister Michael Ferguson announced the trial for term 2, saying the cameras would "record evidence" and "deter dangerous driver behaviour".
"School crossing guards report experiencing near misses each day and dozens of other incidents such as drivers speeding through school crossings, ignoring stop signs or not driving with due care, as well as abusive or offensive behaviour," he said in a statement.
"Driver impatience, inattention, and distraction endanger both our children and their crossing guards … the minority of drivers doing the wrong thing may be smaller in number but pose an unacceptable risk to kids."
Mr Ferguson said the crossing guards' focus was on keeping children safe in the street, so were unable to record offenders' details like registration numbers.
The cameras would allow for those details to be recorded.
'The grief I cop from people is unbelievable'
Brett Carhart, a crossing guard at New Town Primary School for seven years, has already started the trial and says he feels safer wearing the camera.
"The grief that I cop from some people is unbelievable … one lady was carrying on because she needed to get to the hairdresser real quick.
"I feel safer with it [the camera] on now, that people will know that we wear cameras and hopefully that will deter them from breaking the law."
Depending on the offence, drivers face a penalty of at least $173 and three demerit points, or the loss of their license.
