First District Adopts Rockland County Bus Safety Program

County Executive Ed Day is happy to announce that the Pearl River School District is the first district to officially opt into the Rockland County School Bus Safety program, agreeing to allow its bus vendor Chestnut Ridge have cameras on bus routes serviced in their district.

Every day in New York State, an estimated 50,000 drivers illegally pass stopped school buses, putting the lives and safety of children at risk. To make roads safer for our children, the County of Rockland has partnered with company BusPatrol to launch a violator-funded business model allowing districts to equip school buses with cameras on the bus stop-arms at no-cost.

“I’m proud to see that in less than one month since we presented this program to school leaders in Rockland, a district acknowledged the value and opted in expeditiously,” said County Executive Ed Day. “I’m hopeful that the rest of our school districts, private and public, will follow Pearl River’s lead and opt in soon.”

A 30-day warning and public notice period will begin once 25% of buses within a district are equipped with stop-arm cameras, after which enforcement will begin.

Drivers caught by those cameras illegally passing activated stop-arms on school buses will then be issued the following penalties by mail:

1st Violation $250

2nd Violation $275

3rd Violation $300

(within 18-month period)

BusPatrol confirms several districts have begun the process to opt-in. As districts and transportation companies need to enter into agreements with BusPatrol, further questions about that should be directed to Bus Patrol’s Head of External Affairs Jason Elan by email at jason.elan@buspatrol.com.