Yonkers celebrates success of stop arm safety technology on school buses; 18K violations issued
YONKERS, New York (WABC) -- A school bus safety program involving cameras has been yielding positive results in Yonkers since its launch 10 months ago, leading to thousands of violations, and apparently, a change in some drivers' habits.
If you look closely at the 180 school buses that transport 7,000 students to and from school each day in Yonkers, you'll notice they are equipped with cameras to record cars illegally passing stopped school buses, something that happens with frightening regularity.
"Having 18,000 instances where people were passing school buses is completely unacceptable," Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano said.
Those thousands of violations have been issued since January when Yonkers became the largest school district in the state to use stop arm safety technology.
The cameras start recording when the stop sign is extended. Clips of possible offenders are reviewed by the company Verra Mobility, then forwarded to police which confirm, then issue the summons.
Officials say the goal isn't to make money, rather to change driver behavior.
"Drivers who receive one of these citations, approximately 92% of them do not get a second violation," said Tristan Massalay-Ellis of Verra Mobility.
Fines start at $250, and they can go up to $300. The company, which pays to equip the buses and review the footage, gets a portion of the money, but the district also gets valuable data about which intersections are the most problematic, and potentially dangerous.
"We wouldn't have that other than what a driver would report. This actually substantiates the driver's claims as they try to keep our kids safe, pay attention to the kids on the bus while also monitoring what's going on on the road," said Yonkers Schools Superintendent Anibal Soler Jr.
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