...All through the town.

On August 6, 2019, Governor Cuomo signed into law a bill designed to catch motorists illegally passing stopped school buses. How does the program work? The Education Law has been amended to allow a school board of education the discretion to join with its local county, city, village or town to implement a program that will install cameras to the stop-signs hanging off of school buses.

Once the stop-sign arm is extended, the installed camera will capture any offending motorist’s license plate for future prosecution under the Vehicle and Traffic Law. School districts will not be able to access the images or data, and must adhere to the proper chain of custody when handling such evidence and turning it over to its municipal partner.

Schools concerned about the cost of this program should rest easy. All costs, including those for equipment and installation, are borne by the local municipality, which in turn will recoup costs through the fines.

Besides ensuring the safety of the children, there will be little impact otherwise on school employees and administrators. Any image captured by the camera will be inadmissible in any disciplinary proceeding or in a licensure proceeding initiated by the State. This is a curious provision to include as it is seemingly redundant. Why, you may ask? Well, the camera is required to be facing outward at all time -- meaning that the camera would almost never capture a school bus driver. The inclusion of this statement reflects the strength of the unions within New York state and their influence on our Governor.

Overall, this law will ensure that drivers abide by traffic laws during one of school children’s most vulnerable transitions: getting on and off the bus. For more information, read our Legal Alert on the new law related to cameras on school buses.