MONROE COUNTY, N.Y. — Drivers in Monroe County illegally passed stopped school buses 6,000 times last school year, prompting a push to slash those numbers as the new school year begins.
Stop-arm cameras on local school buses captured the violations, which happened nearly 30 times every day in Monroe County alone.
Video from the cameras shows a number of near misses.
In one incident, a driver can be seen passing a bus by driving on the sidewalk while a student was walking right across that same sidewalk.
In another video, a car flew by a stopped school bus on a sunny winter day as children were getting ready to cross the street. Thankfully, the kids saw the car coming and backed away.
In another case, kids had to get out of the road to avoid a driver blowing right through an intersection where a bus was stopped.
One person towing a trailer decided to drive around a tree and up onto the sidewalk to avoid what probably would have been a 20-second stop.
The cameras were new last school year in Brighton, Fairport, Pittsford, Spencerport and West Irondequoit school districts. East Irondequoit, Greece, Hilton and Webster have had them for a few years now. In total, nearly 20,000 citations have been issued since the program’s inception in October 2023.
The data was shocking to trauma surgeons at Strong Hospital. “A kid getting hit by a car getting on or off the school bus, it should just be a never event and the pediatric patients that get hit by cars get very severely injured and that’s something you never want to see in the county and the fact that it’s 29 times a day, that’s a possibility to be happening is just a number that we’re not okay with,” Dr. Katherine Riera says.
The trauma team at Strong Memorial Hospital has partnered with Monroe County to launch the “Spot the Stop” campaign ahead of the new school year.
“We’re doing a lot of education at kindergarten orientations this summer, meeting with their school bus drivers and transportation groups…what we’re also doing in some of the districts is for the high school kids to get a parking pass, there’s going to be a pledge as well as an education handout that goes out to the student and the parents,” explains Dr. Riera.
Districts with stop-arm cameras have also used the violation data to tailor or change bus routes based on any trends they see.
“We’re all just trying to prevent the problem before it ever comes to us,” Dr. Riera says.
She also suggested having a talk with your child about making sure he or she is not distracted when getting on or off the bus. You can also attach reflective bag tags or keychains to try and draw more attention to them.
The fine for illegally passing a school bus is $250 the first time it happens. If you do it again within 18 months, it gets bumped up by $25 each time, although the county says it’s seeing less than a 4% repeat offense rate.
The program is funded through the fines, so there is no cost to the taxpayer or the districts.
Each alleged violation the system tracks is then reviewed by a person to verify before a ticket is issued. For more information on the program, click here.
‘Spot the Stop’ campaign launches in Monroe County ahead of new school year to reduce illegal school bus passes WHEC.com.
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