Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - If a school bus camera finds you passing a Buffalo Public Schools school bus this summer, you could get a warning in the mail. If you pass it by the end of the grace period at the end of September, you could receive a $250 fine.
The City of Buffalo and Buffalo Public Schools announced the launch of their awareness campaign and more details of their partnership with BusPatrol, a company that installed school bus stop-arm cameras on all Buffalo Public School buses to prevent motorists from causing an accident that could arise from them not adhering to the flashing stop signs on school buses.
Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown says the goal is to keep the kids safe and to condition motorists not to allow themselves to do this type of dangerous behavior. Not just for the safety of the children, but for themselves, bus personnel, and parents waiting to pick their child up from school.
"Our goal is not ticketing, but our goal is to change behavior. We believe that this strategy, that we've looked at for a long period of time collectively between the city, the police department and the school district will ensure greater safety of our children and that's what this is all about," said Mayor Brown on Thursday.
The buses have cameras on top of the bus, two cameras on each side and front-facing and rear-facing cameras to show a potential infraction at all angles. The artificial intelligence connected to said cameras can determine if an infraction occurs and a collection of that data will be sent to be review by BusPatrol personnel and then sent to the city to determine if an infraction occurred.
Justin Meyers, president and chief innovation officer of BusPatrol, notes that this technology is extremely effective and with human review, there is no margin for error.
"We serve over 400 different school districts across the country in 16 states. We see precipitous drops in this type of violation as soon as the program launches. Here in New York State, in the first three years, we've seen drops as much as as much as 40%. And the reason for that is because most people recognize that passing a school bus illegally is not OK and it's very dangerous," said Meyers. "Every once in a while a mistake can happen, but when you receive that violation in the mail and you watch that video of yourself going past that school bus, over 90% of the time nationwide, when that happens, that person never commits that violation."
The grace period starts July 1, and is expected to end by September. Dr. Tonja Williams notes that parents and the community will be updated regularly about the software and program on all social platforms. Violators found guilty during the grace period will be mailed a picture of their vehicle passing the bus and issued a warning. Beyond the grace period, the fine will have to be paid online.
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