Down in Florida, Miami-Dade County is famous for three things—sun, sand, and school bus traffic cameras. The city has implemented an automatic camera system on its school bus fleet known as BusPatrol. The cameras film cars that blow past school buses when they’re loading and unloading passengers—and automatically issue fines to offending drivers.
This might sound like a high-tech solution to a nothing problem, but that’s sadly not the case. As covered by NBC Miami, over 11,500 violations were recorded in the first few weeks of the 2024/2025 school year—or roughly 1,600 violations per school day. The sheer volume of incidents prompted Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office to release a video of some of the worst offenders blowing past school buses with lights flashing and stop signs out.
The city isn’t messing around with penalties, either. Pass a school bus that has its lights on and stop signs out, and you could get a fine for $225.
ALERT ????: We want to remind motorists that if you illegally pass a stopped Miami-Dade County school bus with flashing lights and an extended stop arm, you will receive a citation of $225. Since the start of the 2024/2025 school year, there have been approximately 11,500 school… pic.twitter.com/vZm6uFUoDd
— Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office (@MiamiDade_SO) August 28, 2024
The cameras are supplied by a company called BusPatrol. They’re installed on the side of the bus and rely on wide-angle lenses to gain good vision of the adjacent roadway. The cameras are set up to capture footage whenever the bus has its stop sign deployed. Footage is uploaded via the cellular network, and AI models are used to process the video to determine when a vehicle has performed an illegal pass. Human reviewers then check the footage before it is provided to the city as evidence so citations can be issued.
It’s not just Miami Dade getting on board, either. The same technology has been deployed in New York, Rhode Island, and Pennsylvania, amongst other jurisdictions. It’s an attractive proposition to many cities, offering safety for students, peace of mind for parents, and a new income stream from offending drivers.
Multiple research projects have shown this is a real problem in Florida and beyond. The Florida Department of Education released a report that recorded 11,224 illegal passes on school buses across the 2022-2023 school year. The problem isn’t just a local one, either. The National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services (NASDPTS) isn’t just an agency with a terrible name. It’s also an organization that has done serious nationwide research on the problem and estimates that 43.5 million illegal passes occurred across the country in the 2022-2023 school year.
The simple fact is this kind of behavior puts children at risk. In particular, kids have a limited view of traffic as they step out of the bus doors. Those stop signs aren’t just a guide—they’re there to keep kids safe.
In case you’re not au fait with the rules around school buses in Florida, fear not. The Miami Dade Sheriff’s Office is more than happy to educate you, as per the graphic below. Long story short, if the bus has a stop sign out, you pretty much need to stop unless you’re on the other side of a divided roadway. Even then, you need to take caution.
ALWAYS stop for school buses!! ????
Keep students, and yourself, safe by following all school bus safety laws! Safety is a shared responsibility. pic.twitter.com/k4ovM7ecjx— Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office (@MiamiDade_SO) August 15, 2024
The law is, by and large, pretty similar wherever you go. If kids are getting on or off the bus, you’re generally supposed to stop to let them alight safely.
It’s a shame that cities around the country have had to go to such lengths to solve this problem. With camera systems putting eyes on far more stops and hefty fines now on the table, drivers will really be thinking of the kids the next time they’re tempted to blow by a school bus.
Image credits: Miami Dade County, BusPatrol
Take that, Florida Man. You have to care about other people for the first time in your life or you’ll get fined. I still think the punishment is too light but it’s a start.
There should be points added to your license for illegally passing a school bus. This is a fine only, lame. This is basically saying, for a fee of $225 you can illegally pass a bus.
For photo tickets, there is no way to prove who is driving, so there’s no way to assess points. That’s why it’s a fine only.
Then the fines should start in the 4 digit range and increase until the offending vehicle has it’s registration suspended.
THIS! I can hear the one driver who swerved around to the left now- “That damn schoolkid ran right out from behind the bus and almost hit me!”
In some states, you don’t have to stop if you’re oncoming and it’s a multilane roadway, because they’ve made it illegal to discharge the kids in a way that forces them to cross a multilane roadway.
I struggle with intersections. There are some intersections near me where buses will stop and try to stop when I see the bus letting out kids BUT the flashing red lights are not visible from the side of busses the only indication is the yellow stick in front of the bumper. I think buses should also have flashing lights visible from the sides of the buses. Also, some busses near me will let kids out of the bus on the side of the road with just flashing yellow but also sit on the side of the same road with flashing yellow and no kids in the bus at all. I do everything I can to be safe and careful but the buses need to do their part.
If the flashing yellow lights are on, and you can safely get around, then that’s OK.
At the intersection, if the bus is blocking the intersection, don’t go
On my street, the bus driver will have the yellow lights on while they’re waiting for the student to come out of the house and then put the red lights on when the student comes out
Flashing red lights means stop.
So if the bus is not blocking the intersection but the red lights are flashing it is ok to go? that seems just as dangerous to students as passing the bus. I still would like flashing red on the sides just to help visually.
Good points. In my experience, the bus will block the intersection in that case. Side lights would definitely help
Can you see the extended stop signs on the side? If not, I am not sure what I would do in that situation.
no the stop signs deploy so they are seen from the front and back of the bus, cross traffic only sees the edge.
There you go. If you cannot see the stop sign plastered to the side of the bus, and you can only see the edge of it, that means the stop sign is deployed and don’t go past the bus.
Side lights would also help, I agree
I stop but “stop when you do not see the stop sign” seems like trouble. (just joking)
9 demerit points for it in Quebec. Same as a hit and run.
Demerits last for 2 years here and you diver’s licence will cost more. Your insurance company will also likely increase your rate at renewal as well.
Cameras like these have been in use in the Philadelphia suburbs for a few years. They are definitely beneficial, and help keep the kids safe. The only issue I have is many of the buses do drive pick ups at houses that don’t have sidewalks. When this happens they throw the yellow blinking lights on 3 driveways early, and it’s hard to tell if/when they are stopping. I’ve found (when driving in the opposite direction)if you show caution during they blinking yellow the driver will wave you past him before he hits s the stop sign.
Flashing yellow means proceed (keep going) with caution. That’s true for a flashing yellow intersection or a flashing yellow school bus.
Flashing red at an intersection means stop, and proceed when safe. Flashing red on school bus means stop and don’t go until the lights go off
Source? I’m a Driver’s Ed instructor.
You will see these same people blasting up the slow vehicle lane on the highway doing 90mph during heavy traffic (because the big rigs are too “good” to use the slow vehicle lanes themselves). Holy crap, the world is full of bad, selfish drivers.
(full self aware that I am at least 20% selfish driver, no one is perfect, but I would never pass a bus like this. I have kids and have lost sleep at night because of their walks to the bus)
In Virginia it’s illegal to pass a (moving) school bus on a two lane road and they’ve had onboard cameras for years now.
Several years ago I lived in an area where this was a big problem, but it was a small town so every road was a two-lane road. The solution they used was the giant metal beams that extend from the front/side of the bus. On top of citing anyone who hit the beams, they posted on social media photos of the incident – which in a small town led to rumors of who it was spreading very fast. It was quite effective, but obviously scalability is an issue in places with larger roads and larger populations.
Sorry to be pedantic, but from the Title: it’s not Florida county.
People who understand headlines know that it means “a county in Florida“ but because headlines have to be short, the wording is abbreviated
People who are media savvy get this
It’s perfect English, given the context of the headline, which of course is not a complete sentence because it’s a headline.
Florida county is any county in Florida. Florida County doesn’t exist
True, but on a headline every word is capitalized. Very fine line between a ball and a strike.
I’m sorry I don’t breathe thru my eyelids
This is far less draconian than my plan, which was to have the front bumper of the bus eject a lightweight dummy in front of the offending vehicle to ensure a hit. It’s like Scared Straight for Jackasses. Or the way fighter jets use chaff or flares.
TBH, I did accidentally do this once, but the bus had just made a left and pulled over to the side with no lights on, so I passed them like you would a mail truck. Halfway through my pass, the driver flipped open the stop sign but I never could have reacted in time. I still got a honk and a dirty look, and in Miami I probably would have gotten a fine even though nobody was at risk.
I support your plan, but only if the dummy explodes on impact.
Obviously we gotta do everything we can to help the kids but be it bus, red light, speed cameras, the only people that change their behavior are people who are just scraping by and can barely afford to live, let alone to pay camera tickets. I think a fine and points (points can only be issued by a cop, not a camera since the camera can’t prove whos driving or testify in court) and possibly a court appearance ticket would do a lot more to change everyone’s behaviors but I know it’s impossible to have cops at every bus stop. Why can’t they do something cool like have the bus shoot a spike strip out if someone is running the sign. Oh you’re in a rush, huh? Not anymore asshole. Not only will you be late for whatever you’re doing, you gotta get 4 new tires too. Class dismissed. And then the bus driver does a burnout with their Godzilla engine into the sunrise
I would support this!
Just realizing how behind the times bus’s must be on 360 camera view type technology. I know the aftermarkets will probably jack the price up way higher than it should be, but this is probably as important as adding seat belts(which I feel should be fairly high priority).
So many self important drivers on the road today, hoping it’s the same percentage of d!cks but there’s just more drivers.
I do recall seeing justice served immediately once years ago heading into work, we’re stopped behind a school bus in our lane, sign out, lights a’flashin’ and a car in the other lane whizzes by, and it took me a sec to go wait a minute, that’s not right, and as I check my rearview there was a cop behind me, fully marked, and see her just roll her eyes and put on the flashers and go after them, I was like Yes! sometimes the system works!
Hope she made them wait a while as she ‘checked the registration’. That’s the best deterrent(along with a healthy fine), put them in a timeout.
I worked as a school bus driver for three years when I was in grad school, if anyone has any questions, I can perhaps offer some insight. Overall, I’ll say this is a very good thing. I worked for two companies, one had cameras on the bus, one did not. When I was at the depot with cameras, the local PD was probably at the depot picking up footage of reds violations at least a couple times a week. So, this isn’t exactly new, it is simply more automated. At the depot that had busses without cameras, sadly not a lot was done about reds violations.
If you don’t have the patience to wait for 2 minutes to avoid putting children in danger you really have no business driving.
TWO MINUTES?! What is this, a clown bus? /s
You have to account for the time it takes to get the kids to put their phones down.
A less sarcastic and more real response is that the kids aren’t allowed to leave their seats until the bus is stopped for safety reasons, it takes a few secs for them to get to the door and for the driver to be sure it’s still safe to let them off
There’s always a straggler or two that left their house a minute late…
And the time it takes for the kid to get out of their parent’s SUV that’s been idling at the curb for 20 minutes and walk over to the bus
We seem to have the opposite problem here, which is the buses seem to stop right in front of every kid’s house instead of just making them walk 100 yards to a common location. I think there’s a nice balance of not frustrating other drivers here, as well.
With any infraction, the devil’s advocacy side is always “What is making these drivers so impatient?”
Yes, it’s still a bad idea, but you also have to wonder what’s generating it. This whole sub-thread about stragglers and slowdowns is precipitating the problem (not excusing it, though)
We have an odd mix of both methods, with no apparent rhyme or reason
But, I also feel a bit like, if you’re going to back your car out of the driveway and drive your kid to the bus stop that’s down the street from your house, and sit there in the car with your kid until the bus comes, why not just drive all the way to school and be done with it? You’re doing at least half the job already
When I was a kid and my school was 20+ minutes away, the bus made perfect sense. Today I take my kids to a middle school that’s 6 minutes away (by car) or 15-30 minutes by bus. I just drive them, it’s easier on everyone.
At least half my neighbors send their kids on the bus, but that’s mainly because both parents are at work early (or in some cases they have 4+ kids and it’s chaos). In many ways, it’s a luxury to drive kids to school but I wouldn’t trade it for anything.
How else can I start the day knowing how wrong and stupid I am? It’s a daily affirmation.
In Florida? Probably.
Well, it is the winter home of Ringling, so it’s very likely the clowns are sending their kids to school.
Max capacity: 70
LOL
The littles have to realize it is their stop, gather their stuff, trundle down the isle bumping their bag and coat into the seats and stumble down the bus steps. this for each kid at the stop.
You also have to wait for the driver and parent to talk about the weather.
Salisbury Township, NJ, posts videos from these cameras with a caption, “Your ticket is in the mail!”.
Sadly, they post these almost daily. Tells you how endemic this issue is in our country.
To be fair, Salisbury has a lot at stake. The fines are just gravy.
Now I’m hungry.
I’m not. Not for that.
I see what you did there.
Glorious comment. COTD.
People who pass stopped school busses are self-important dickheads who think their need to get where they’re going overrides everything else.
Thus, a fine probably isn’t going to deter them.
Preventing them from getting where they’re probably going will.
https://www.police1.com/police-products/pursuit-management-technology/articles/vehicle-mounted-device-disables-car-electronics-at-50-meters-EY9nwV48RxoMhcdp/
225$ that’s it? That doesn’t sound like a very big fine at all. Last I heard it was. 600$ fine in CT.
It is more of a cop catches you (in PA at least). You also get points if a cop catches you. The idea is it is a steep enough fine to deter, you’re less likely to fight it, and hopefully don’t do it again
They’re doing this in Hillsborough too, and also automatic fine cameras for school zones. Traffic laws are largely ignored here, but school zones might as well not even exist. You can easily pass 3 school zones on a 5 mile stretch of the same road, and they can seem like they stretch on forever. I set my cruise to 20 until I’m out of the school zone and people legit become irate. People in trade vans, pickup trucks with 12″ lifts, Highlanders, you name it all tailgating scary close. One of the many reasons I have a dual dashcam is because tailgating is such a problem here. I understand if I’m “only” going 10 over on a 2 lane road and you wanna go faster, I’m not the cops and I’ll get out of your way. But in a school zone? You can fuck right off. Tailgate me. I’m not going over the posted limit. Every time I drive past the charter school near me I am honestly the only one doing the school zone speed limit…There’s kids everywhere! They’re crossing the street, they’re on the sidewalk! School is actively letting out right now! Slow TF down!
Unfortunately it’s the parents dropping off kids who are the worst drivers at the charter school I drive past on my way to work. They’re in such a rush to drop off their own kid that they give the other kids about as much thought as they would an ant.
Reminds me of a school where a local elementary school and PTA were creating a huge stink about how people were driving in front the school way too fast, not stopping, etc. The local TV station got involved too… so it got media traction.
So the police increased in person enforcement during drop-off and pickup times. (You know, when the kids were actually at risk.) Something like 80% of the tickets went to said irate parents. The police made this very public and even brought in TV crews again. (This time getting national coverage rather than just local.) They saw it as a teachable moment for parents dropping off/picking up kids and the general public as well. They used the free publicity to basically beg the general public to be careful in school zones. If it convinced even a small portion of drivers to drive slower it is a win in my books.
I should mention this occurred a long, long time ago. 1996 or 1997. So this was still a problem before folks became super distracted with smart phones
This is the case at my kids’ school – the only drivers paying less attention than parents who just dropped off their kids are the cops who roll by to check on things. Almost got hit by one walking back from dropping off my kids.
I am usually against automated camera ticket systems but this I am here for.
Yes, this seems like a good implementation, especially since they are having humans review them before sending them out instead of leaving it totally automated, so they can catch if the camera accidentally cites a car passing on a divided highway and filter that out
The offenders should be made to ride the bus for a day or 2. At every stop, they get out and stand in traffic to make cars stop for the kids!
Wearing a sign that says “I sped past a school bus”
Cue end credit footage from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.
I am against the use of automated cameras and other mechanisms for traffic enforcement – except in this case. I cannot understand how people can fail to stop for school buses. There are flashing lights and a flipping STOP sign! It’s just so dangerous. I am also glad to see that the videos are reviewed by humans before citations go out.
Agreed 100%, automated systems have flaws and blind spots, but if they’re used to streamline the process, and to more efficiently catch violators, they get a pass. I think of it as a win, no group is capable of reviewing every bit of footage every bus captures, but when 99% of the needless footage is tossed and only the incidents is flagged for review, the actual percentage of violators caught goes up significantly.
Also just post their cars out on the intarwebs for everyone to see. Social shaming definitely has its place, even in today’s relativist society. This is one we can all get behind.
That’s a good use of the nanny state, I approve.
Good.
Downside, however, is that these drivers may not get their notification & fines until weeks/months after blasting past the bus. And it’ll encourage people who are regular offenders to simply come up with ways to obfuscate their license plates – something which many police don’t seem too keen to enforce.
250 USD seems really cheap…
BUT in France, it’s actually even cheaper, 135€, which works out to about 150 USD.
However…
French drivers licenses have a point system that takes away points when you you commit moving (I think it is?) violations. Passing a school bus “costs” 4 points – out of 12 total available. So if you’re in a hurry, or a bad driver, you’ll be out of points pretty fast. Then, suspended license, and mandatory classes. So combined, seems like more severe than this Florida example…
Colleagues of mine, travelling in France, were caught well unaware of the fines they can rack up for exceeding ‘average speed’ on toll routes.
Yet, contrasted with the scooter/motorcycle traffic that seems to feel all/most traffic laws in cities do not apply to them.
Do they issue a ticket based on the time between toll booths? I’ve been scared of that happening here for a long time, but I wonder if there’s a judicial decision that makes it impossible.
If they did this for the NYS Thruway, the entire system would be funded for 10 years within 2 weeks.
Same goes for the Illinois Tollway.
Most US states have a points system for suspending or revoking driver licenses as well. However points can’t be imposed for camera violations because the presumption doesn’t exist in US law that the registered owner of the vehicle is also the driver. I’m not 100% sure on this but I think attempts to create that presumption would run into problems with the Fourth and Sixth Amendments to the US Constitution.
Given driving is considered a privilege, not a right I don’t see how any constitutional argument would stick.
Even if driving is a privilege you still need things like “witnesses” and “evidence” to convict someone of violating the law. Darn those pesky things called “rights”.
Vehicle registrations have a mention of the primary operator. Any points are deducted from that person’s license. It is possible to request reversal of points removed if another person (like my enthusiastic teenage daughter) racks up traffic violations with my car 😉 Then the points are essentially shifted from her license to mine – sweet!
France also has a special class of low speed vehicle that can be operated without a license so people who get their licenses suspended or revoked can still get around independently, albeit slowly. We don’t really have that here
There’s neighborhood electric vehicles, which are essentially just more expensive golf carts, but those are only allowed on roads with speed limits of 35mph or less and still require a full, normal drivers license to operate
Long live the Renault Twizy and the Citroën Ami, both of which are technically, not cars. The term is “Quadricycle” which imperfectly translates to four-wheel cycle, and can be operated in speed-limited versions starting at 14 years of age. Actually really appropriate for city cars. Also the Fiat Topolino and the Microlino Light, both of which have higher top speeds, while remaining quadricycles.