- Monroe County has issued more than 18,000 school bus camera citations.
- One driver was filmed using a sidewalk to pass a stopped bus.
- Numbers raise questions about enforcement, deterrence, and overall safety outcomes.
If your morning commute happens anywhere near a school bus, you might be on camera when nearby. In New York, 18,000 drivers are now facing citations after illegally passing buses when their stop signs are out and their lights are on. Whether that’s improving safety, generating revenue, or actually changing driver behavior is fully up for debate.
During his recent State of the County address, Monroe County Executive Adam Bello revealed that more than 18,000 citations have been issued since the county began installing cameras on school buses as part of its School Bus Safety Program. That was in late 2023. The announcement came alongside video footage showing motorists illegally passing stopped school buses, including one driver who reportedly steered onto a sidewalk to get around a bus with its stop arm deployed.
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Local officials are blunt about it. Bello described the violations as dangerous decisions that put children at risk, while residents interviewed by local station WROC largely supported the enforcement effort. “Can’t nobody be in that much of a hurry! No way! No way!” said resident Fred Gaston. “They have no regard for human safety, for animals, for pets, for nothing. Not for kids on the school bus,” Gaston said. “Unbelievable.”
Everyone Agrees Until You Look At The Numbers
It’s easy to understand why. Few traffic violations generate as much universal agreement as illegally passing a stopped school bus. The sight of a driver crossing into oncoming traffic, or worse, using a sidewalk to avoid waiting a few seconds for children to board or exit a bus, is enough to make most drivers cringe. At the same time, it’s worth noting just how safe modern school buses are without the cameras.
Back in January, a company in the business of school transportation reached out to us, pitching the reason that cities need its AI camera technology. To support it, the company provided data from the School Bus Fleet and Traffic Safety team, which is part of the Department of Transportation. It shows that every school day, on average, 218,000 people pass a school bus illegally.
Despite that extraordinary figure, fewer than three people die each year as a result of such a pass. Moreover, half of those fatalities were adult pedestrians. I triple checked the data with multiple sources because that kind of success rate seems incredible. It’s legitimate, too.
And that doesn’t mean the behavior of driving around one isn’t dangerous. It clearly is. The question is whether the primary benefit of camera systems is preventing deaths, reducing near-misses, changing driver behavior, or simply improving enforcement.
Safer Roads Or A Steady Revenue Stream?
Some school bus safety companies claim that 98 to 99 percent of drivers who receive a citation never receive a second one. Other programs have reported substantial drops in violations after cameras are installed and local drivers become aware they’re being watched. One thing is for sure. Monroe County is raking in serious cash with this program.
At a minimum, Monroe County’s 18,000 citations represent roughly $4.5 million in assessed fines. However, the county says collected fines help fund the BusPatrol camera program itself, making it difficult to determine how much revenue ultimately remains with local governments versus paying for equipment, administration, and contractor services. Now, we just wait to see if citations drop over time or not.
