School bus cameras will catch Oneida County drivers passing them

It is dangerous to pass school buses stopped with red lights flashing, a warning that students are getting on or off the bus.

It's also illegal if the bus is stopped anywhere on the road on which you’re driving, even on the other side of a median.

And now passing a stopped school bus could get expensive.

Oneida County, working with partner Verra Mobility, has equipped 191 school buses in eight districts with cameras on the left side to take video of vehicles — and their license plates — that pass buses with their stop arms extended.

The owners, not drivers, of cars caught on this candid camera will receive a letter in the mail. Until June 12, they’ll just get warnings, but then they’ll receive civil fines: $50 for the first offense, $275 for a second offense within 18 months and $300 for each offense after that within 18 months.

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"This is a lifesaver," Oneida County Sheriff Rob Maciol said at a press conference May 8 at the Sauquoit Valley Central School District bus garage. "It's all about saving lives."

The sheriff's department responded to a crash just last month, on the morning of April 27 involving a vehicle trying to pass a Whitesboro Central School District bus on Cosby Manor Road in Deerfield, Maciol said. A driver tried to pass the bus several times in a no passing zone and finally tried to pass on the shoulder. His Jeep Wrangler struck the bus near the door, but no one was injured.

This case might have been particularly dramatic, but cars pass stopped buses in Oneida County every day, Maciol said. "Certainly it's a real thing out there and it's scary," he said.

The cameras haven't cost the county or the school districts any money. Verra Mobility installed them and a portion of the fines raised will go to the company to pay for the system.

These districts are participating in the program and have cameras on their buses:

Every district in the county, except the Utica City School District, is eligible to join the program. "These other districts will hopefully come on board," Oneida County Executive Anthony Picente said.

The county had to pass a law to allow it to put the program into place. It's all about keeping children safe and punishing those who endanger them, Picente said.

"It's seconds out of your life (to stop)," he said.

Under state law, the Utica school district is not eligible for the county program because the district is wholly contained within city limits. Utica would have to pass its own law to allow the camera-and-fines program on district buses.

Yet some of the worst spots in the county for drivers passing buses are in Utica, Maciol said. The worst is probably on Oriskany Street near the Dunkin’ Donuts at the Schuyler Street where vehicles going in the opposite direction of a stopped school bus often drive past every day, he said.

It's also a big issue at the intersection of Court and Rutger streets, Picente added.

It was, of course, already illegal to pass a stopped school bus with a raised stop arm, but drivers had to be caught in the act.

These traffic tickets, which drivers can still get, add five points to the driver's license and carry a fine of $250 for a first offense, $275 for a second offense within 18 months and $300 for each additional offense within 18 months.