School bus cameras snag cars illegally passing. But some fight tickets. Did you get one?

NEW CITY - With the start of the 2024-25 school year just a couple weeks away, Rockland County Executive Ed Day warned Tuesday that passing a stopped school bus will bring hefty fines.

Rockland County school districts have joined a public-private partnership, coordinated by the county, that installs cameras on school buses. The cameras track vehicles that pass a bus when the lights are flashing and the safety arm and stop sign are out, signs that the bus is in the process of letting off students. Then the information is packaged for law enforcement to review and issue violations.

"A moment of impatience is never worth the risk to a child's life," Day said outside Clarkstown North High School.

Rockland last year announced its School Bus Safety Initiative that partners with BusPatrol, a private company that operates the cameras. The Rockland County Sheriff's Department handles the ticketing. Day said that 100% of districts have joined; all buses that contract with districts are being retrofitted with the camera systems.

How big is the problem?

Stopped school buses are passed by drivers about 50,000 times each year in New York, according to the New York Association for Pupil Transportation.

Rockland officials estimated 17,000 violations had been issued throughout the county since some districts phased in the program last school year.

Suffolk, Nassau, Dutchess and other counties around the state have similar programs. Westchester County has passed the required law to implement the program and plans a launch this school year. The city of Yonkers has its own program that's fully operational.

More: How do school bus cameras catch scofflaws? What we saw on a Yonkers bus ride along

What's the law for passing school buses?

New York law mandates that when a school bus is stopped and its red lights flashing, drivers must stop their vehicles in both directions at least 20 feet from the bus. That's on any roadway, from a two-lane residential street to a divided highway.

New York adopted rules in 2019 and extended them this year to allow municipalities to issue tickets for passing a stopped bus using data from cameras, paving the way for vendor-municipal partnerships like the one in Rockland.

But the program is not without controversy.

Can the camera system make mistakes?

New York has long had laws mandating that vehicles stop for a bus letting off kids.

But some drivers — and a couple judges — around the state have said the automated system is flawed.

In Suffolk County, nearly 90% of contested tickets were dismissed after a state Appellate Court in November 2023 ruled in favor of a driver's challenge, WABC reported.

A judge in Colonie, near Albany, similarly dismissed a week's worth of tickets in March.

The state Legislature in April added language to the statutes that makes clear that motorists have to prove they didn't pass the bus when kids were disembarking.

The ticket goes to the vehicle's owner, since there's no way to determine who is driving.

Jed Furphy of Clarkstown said he is concerned about people passing buses that are discharging students, and he's called Clarkstown police to watch bus stops where it's been a problem. But he said the automated system seems to be capturing drivers who are passing buses that may have lights on but aren't stopping or letting off children.

"For a ticket to be issued seems a little bit of a stretch if you can't challenge it," Furphy said. He's heard of cases where someone was ticketed even though the bus had yellow lights on, didn't switch to red, or didn't ever fully stop and discharge passengers.

How is the information checked?

Ryan Monell, BusPatrol senior vice president, said the system employs AI to weed violators from drivers who are just close by. He said two people review the images. The ones that are determined to be violations are then sent to law enforcement.

In Rockland, the sheriff's department then reviews the footage and determines if a citation is warranted.

Day said that about 40% of the possible violations forwarded by BusPatrol to the Rockland County Sheriff's Department aren't sent out because deputies who review the data decide against it.

Monell said that he believes none of the Rockland County violations have been dismissed in court.

What are the fines?

A first violation for passing a stopped school bus is $250; a second fine within 18 months is $275 . A third fine could hit $300.

The fine, similar to a red-light camera fine, carries no points, since the cameras can't document who was actually driving.

If a driver gets ticketed for the same thing by a police officer, the fine could range from $250 up to $1,000 for a repeat offense. Police-issued violations also could bring up to 5 points on a license — 11 points in 18 months can lead to a a driver's license suspension, and points can push insurance costs up.

Where do the fines go?

BusPatrol gets 55% of the revenue from citations within Rockland and the county keeps the other 45%.

Rockland County Sheriff's Department Chief Ted Brovarski said the Sheriff's Patrol has hired a couple more deputies since the BusPatrol system was onboarded. But all officers are trained to review the footage and determine if a ticket is warranted.

"We're not interested in the revenue," Brovarski said. "It's about keeping the students safe ... and educating the public."

Monell said that BusPatrol provides all the equipment, including the cameras, and the programs that help sort out violations.

School districts don't financially benefit from the cameras.

Monell said in some places like Nassau and Suffolk counties, which have operated the programs longer, the number of violations have been decreasing month after month. He attributes that to people learning to change their behavior.

He said that pattern has not yet emerged in Rockland.

Day said that's a goal, noting that he's heard people call the program a "money grab" and dismissed that. "I'd be very happy is we had no violations ever."

Staff writers Asher Stockler and Peter D. Kramer contributed to this report.

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: School bus cameras snag cars illegally passing. But some fight tickets. Did you get one?