|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
The Monroe County School Bus Safety Program issued more than 6,000 citations to motorists who illegally passed stopped school buses during the 2025-26 school year, officials said Monday.
In total, nearly 20,000 citations have been issued since 2023, when the program was launched.
“Last school year, we added five new districts to our School Bus Safety Program, expanding our mission to ensure unsafe drivers are held accountable and keeping our children safe as they travel to and from school,” says Adam Bello, Monroe County executive. “In addition, we have seen a recidivism rate of less than 4%, potentially signaling that motorists who receive a citation rarely receive an additional one.”
School buses in the program have stop-arm cameras to capture and enforce violations when motorists illegally pass stopped school buses with extended stop-arms and flashing red lights. Brighton, Fairport, Pittsford, Spencerport and West Irondequoit school districts joined the program last year.
The county’s Department of Public Safety has teamed with University of Rochester Medicine’s Trauma Program in “Spot the Stop,” a school bus safety awareness campaign. It uses the data from the School Bus Safety Program to improve student safety and driver education.
“School bus stop-arm violations are happening almost 30 times each school day in Monroe County, so this is a serious and frequent occurrence,” says Katherine Riera M.D., a trauma surgeon at Strong Memorial Hospital.
“Spot the Stop is a data-driven injury prevention project in response to the alarming number of stop-arm violations locally,” she added. “We are excited to partner with the county to raise awareness and increase education surrounding school buses. A child being hit by a car getting on or off a school bus should be a ‘never event’ in Monroe County.”
All suburban school districts are eligible for the bus safety program, which is funded by the collected fines. Violators face a $250 penalty, an amount that increases with subsequent violations within 18 months.
Citations issued by school district:
■ Brighton: 774
■ East Irondequoit: 579
■ Fairport: 88
■ Greece: 2,339
■ Pittsford: 207
■ Spencerport: 582
■ Webster: 780
■ West Irondequoit: 641
Smriti Jacob is Rochester Beacon managing editor.
The Beacon welcomes comments and letters from readers who adhere to our comment policy including use of their full, real name. See “Leave a Reply” below to discuss on this post. Comments of a general nature may be submitted to the Letters page by emailing [email protected].
Where are the numbers for Rochester? Also, are their clusters of violations at certain stops?
Make that “..are there clusters…”
Maybe if police cracked down on drivers going 20 miles an hour over the speed limit, tailgating and weaving in and out of traffic as they do regularly on 390 and 590 this would be a problem that resolved itself when they lose their licenses. Also wth is up in Greece.
Raise the fine so high it becomes the talk of the town. Publish the names in the paper. There is a way to reach those who just don’t get it until society gets them with a considerable fine.
What is the collection rate on fines? How many licenses were suspended? Irrelevant how many citations were issued if the perps don’t pay up and are still driving.