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New Albany Co. school bus safety program results in more than 900 violations in one month

Jan 17, 2023 1:00 am

Sean Mulkerrin is reporting for The Altamont Enterprise in an ideal world, the BusPatrol program would not be necessary according to Albany County Executive Daniel McCoy.But there are some alarming facts, he said on January 13. McCoy offered an update on the county's BusPatrol program, first rolled out in September, which equipped 59 South Colonie Central School District buses with cameras to record vehicles illegally passing stopped buses. He said 50,000 drivers illegally pass school buses every day. The South Colonie program went live at the end of November and in one month, between November 28 and December 28, the county issued 923 tickets in the South Colonie school district alone. The tickets generated more than $92,000 in revenue: 60 percent went to BusPatrol and 40 percent to Albany County. There were gasps in the room “when we got briefed on this,” McCoy said. “I felt sick to my stomach. Because it was a lot worse than I thought it was ...  One child lost to reckless driving is one too many," he said. By ticketing motorists who pass school buses when the stop arm is extended and lights flashing, McCoy said, the intention is to change the behavior of those drivers. The fine for passing a bus is $250; additional violations within a subsequent 18-month period increase the fine $25, with a maximum fine of $300. Read the full story at The Altamont Enterprise.

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