As the 2023-24 school year begins, Broome County’s Office of Emergency Services is reminding drivers to stop for school buses. The County’s School Bus Stop-Arm Camera program will be recording vehicles that illegally pass stopped school buses and automatically issuing citations.
Broome County’s program was created through a 2019 local law passed by the County Legislature. The program, which is managed by the Broome County Office of Emergency Services, outfits school buses in Broome County with stop-arm cameras that automatically record any vehicle that illegally passes. Each initial violation comes with a $250 fine which is issued to drivers by mail; second and third violations in an 18-month period are $275 and $300 respectively. The fines are set by the New York State law which permitted local governments to create their own stop-arm camera programs.
Since its inception, the Stop-Arm Camera program has caught 5,813 drivers illegally passing buses throughout Broome County. Despite the troubling total number of violations since the program’s inception, violations were down 11% for the 2022-23 school year compared to the 2021-22 school year, the program's first year.
For more information visit: https://gobroomecounty.com/e911/Stop-Arm
