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Florida drivers will now have to follow the law and stop for a school bus displaying a stop signal or pay up.
Miami-Dade County Public Schools has partnered with BusPatrol to launch a School Bus Safety Program and a 30-day warning period began Monday, April 8th.
BusPatrol has installed a camera system on the one thousand Miami Dade school buses to nab reckless drivers near them.
Per Florida law, it is illegal to pass a stopped school bus displaying a stop signal from either direction unless it is a divided highway.
Last year the legislature passed a law allowing school districts to partner with law enforcement and install school bus infraction detect systems.
"All school buses in the district are now equipped with safety technology, including stop-arm enforcement cameras designed to detect vehicles that illegally pass stopped school buses."
School officials warn that blowing pass a stopped bus is dangerous and unsafe for student riders.
More than a half million students take the bus to and from school in Florida and a study revealed every bus on the road is illegally passed by motorists at least three times a day.
"In the 2022 school year, three Florida school districts participated in a stop-arm camera study to assess the extent of the problem. From August 2022 to June 2023, 16 school buses reported 11,636 illegal passings, with a violation rate of up to 3.8 per bus per day."
During the survey, 8,432 Florida bus drivers reported 11,224 illegal passings in one day which equals more than 2 million violations in a 180-day school year.
BusPatrol's Donnie Wolfe says you can appeal a school bus camera ticket based on video and GPS telemetry.