School Districts Embrace Bus Cameras Highlands Current Audio Stories

Drivers caught illegally passing face $250 fine
The next time you illegally pass a stopped school bus in the Highlands, say "cheese" and take out your wallet.
That's because two of the three local public school districts have adopted for their buses a high-tech system that videotapes violators who ignore stop-arms and fines them $250 for the infraction.
Last month, Haldane decided to employ the camera system, which Beacon has used for over a year. Haldane expects to have the cameras installed on the district's 15 school buses by next fall, said Philip Benante, the superintendent. (So far, Garrison has not adopted the system.)
The stop-arm cameras are part of a statewide attempt to crack down on an estimated 50,000 motorists who each day illegally pass stopped school buses, according to the New York Association for Pupil Transportation. A state law authorized school districts and municipalities to begin using the cameras in 2019.
They capture and transmit footage to local authorities, who then decide whether to issue a citation, according to BusPatrol, the company that operates the systems in Dutchess, Putnam and other New York counties.
BusPatrol funds the artificial-intelligence-powered cameras and keeps a percentage of the fines as compensation, with counties and local municipalities receiving the rest. Drivers who receive more than one violation face increasing fines.
Dutchess first offered it to school districts in 2021, and more than 750 buses now have stop-arm cameras installed, said Eoin Wrafter, the commissioner for Dutchess' Department of Planning and Development. Beacon's school district has outfitted 53 of its buses since January 2023, he said.
So far, more than 30,000 citations have been issued countywide, including over 700 to cars registered in Beacon, said Wrafter. After receiving a citation, car owners may either pay or dispute the violation with the issuing county.
In 2023, Dutchess County received $240,000 in proceeds from the program, said Wrafter. The county has also seen a drop in illegal school bus passings, which are down 28 percent over the last year in the participating school districts, according to BusPatrol.
"Our bus drivers have seen a marked improvement in motorists obeying the state law," said Dwight Bonk, the superintendent for the Wappingers Central School District, one of eight Dutchess County districts that have opted into the program in addition to Dutchess County BOCES.
Whether Putnam, whose school districts have only had access to the cameras since April, will see the same results is to be determined, but Benante hopes to improve safety for students. Brewster, Carmel and Mahopac have also joined the program.
Putnam just completed a "warning phase" in April, when 219 warning citations were issued in Brewster, 62 in Mahopac and 51 in Carmel, said Capt. Michael Grossi of the Putnam Sheriff's Department. Putnam began issuing citations with actual fines on April 28.
In the past, bus drivers have attempted to catch violators by trying to quickly record license plates or reporting a description of the car, but "to get a license plate when someone is passing you is difficult," said Grossi. The camera system "gives us a lot of extra eyes out there," he said.
But some drivers have successfully challenged the tickets. A New York State appellate court has overturned citations issued in Suffolk County after finding that the video did not prove that the buses were properly equipped and marked, and had stopped to pick up or discharge students.
In response, Gov. Kathy Hochul and the Legislature expanded the list of evidence required to include images of an activated stop-arm and an electronic indicator showing activation of a bus' flashing red lights. Those images are needed to create a "rebuttable presumption" that a bus was stopped to load or unload students, according to the amendments, which were included in the 2024-25 budget enacted last month.
The changes also include requiring that municipaliti