Albany County Government: Albany County Legislature Adopts New Law Ensuring Safety Of Children Traveling By School Bus

Press release from the Albany County Government:

04/12/2021 5:52 pm

The Albany County Legislature on Monday adopted a local law designed to protect school children by imposing fines on motor vehicle owners that fail to stop for buses that are picking up or dropping off students and have a stop-arm deployed.

The local law establishes a program that involves the County Executive entering into agreements with school districts for the installation, maintenance and use of school bus photo violation monitoring systems.

“The passage of Local Law C for 2021 is the type of common sense and bipartisan legislation that all Albany County residents should be proud of. This law protects children and families at their bus stops and does so at no cost to the schools or the county. This is a win-win for all parties and I encourage eligible school districts in the county to join with us in this important partnership,” said Albany County Legislator Matthew Miller, who sponsored the bill. “Drivers passing stopped school buses is a way too common occurrence and I believe this bill, combined with strict enforcement, will become a deterrent to these impatient drivers who put so many lives at risk every day. No family should have to have to be worried about their child's safety while heading to or from school and this bill should help to mitigate those concerns for many years to come.”

County Executive Daniel P. McCoy first proposed Local Law C to the Legislature at the beginning of the year.

“Each day, tens of thousands of drivers illegally pass stopped school buses, callously endangering our students simply because they’re impatient or in a hurry. That statistic drove me to advocate for the statewide legislation passed in 2019, and drove me to introduce local law C to the County Legislature in January,” said Albany County Executive Daniel P. McCoy. “Every parent or guardian deserves peace of mind when they’re dropping off their children or picking them up at the school bus. This legislation is another important step towards making that a reality. I look forward to working with local school districts to ensure that every bus route in the county has access to this important safety technology.”

Prior to New York State enacting the School Bus Camera Safety Act in 2019, which allows for monitoring systems to impose fines on motor vehicles, drivers had to be observed violating the law by a police officer for any ticket to be written. Multiple jurisdictions across the state and country have since enacted similar legislation in response to a growing concern over the number of violations that actually occur.

According to the Governor’s Traffic Safety Committee, an estimated 50,000 or more drivers illegally pass school buses every day. The American School Bus Council reported that more school-age pedestrians are killed between 7 and 8 a.m. and 3 to 4 p.m. than at any other time of day. One third of children killed outside the school bus are between five and seven years old.

“We strongly support doing whatever we can to ensure the safety of the county’s schoolchildren. The statistics are truly astounding; one advocate reported that buses are being passed on the right regularly these days,” said Lynne Lekakis, Chairwoman of the Mass Transit Committee.

Local Law C provides monitoring systems that may be stationary or mobile, and can be installed on buses owned or operated by a school district, pursuant to an agreement between the school district and the Albany County Executive. The stationary systems would be installed on County roadways.

The legislation takes into account the privacy of drivers, passengers, pedestrians and cyclists who may be captured in a photograph by a school bus photo violation monitoring device and requires the County to adopt measures that protect an individual’s identity.

The fine for passing a stopped school bus ranges from a minimum of $250 for the first offense, $275 for a second offense if the violation committed within 18 months after the first, and $300 for a third or subsequent offense. The vehicle owner will get charged an additional $25 for failure to respond to a notice of liability within the prescribed time period.

The State law allowing the County to do this only extends to those school districts not wholly contained within a city, but allows those cities to pass similar legislation.

This press release was produced by the Albany County Government. The views expressed here are the author’s own.