ROCHESTER, N.Y. — As the school year wraps up, local districts are reminding drivers to slow down and stop for school buses after thousands of violations have been caught on camera.
A number of local districts participate in Monroe County’s School Bus Safety Program which equips local buses with cameras that record any situation where a vehicle passes a school bus that is stopped with its flashing red lights on and stop sign out.
News10NBC Investigative Reporter Jennifer Lewke reviewed footage from some of those cameras that shows a number of dangerous near misses across Monroe County over the last few months.
Some videos show drivers ignoring stopped school buses in outrageous ways.
One driver passed a bus by driving on the sidewalk, nearly missing a student walking right across the same sidewalk at the time.
Another car flew by a stopped school bus on a sunny winter day as children were getting ready to cross the street, thankfully, the little ones saw the car coming and backed away.
In another incident, kids had to get out of the road to avoid a driver blowing through an intersection where a bus was stopped.
And a 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.
At his State of the County address this week, Monroe County Executive Adam Bello gave an update on the numbers, “since this program began, more than 18,000 citations have been issued in participating districts including East Irondequoit, Greece, Webster, Hilton and Spencerport,” Bello said. “Our responsibility is to protect these children and do the right thing,” he added, “without this technology, far too many dangerous drivers would never be held accountable for putting our children at risk.”
In addition to the districts already participating, Fairport Schools just joined the program.
The City of Rochester also runs its own similar program.
Ignore a stopped school bus once and you’ll face a $250 fine. Do it twice and it’s $275. Any subsequent offenses are $300 each.
There is a process for drivers to dispute their tickets but the public safety teams who run the programs review all video footage of the alleged violations before they send the ticket.
For more information on Monroe County’s Program, Click here
For more information on the City of Rochester’s program, Click here
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