County Lawmakers Split Over Proposed School Bus Cameras

A proposal to install stop-arm cameras on school buses in Putnam County prompted an extensive and contentious discussion during the County Legislature’s Feb. 20 Rules Committee meeting.

In September, Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed a law enabling municipalities to create local laws to catch people passing stopped school buses by using stop-arm cameras to record the violation. The cameras, also known as license plate readers, are equipped with technology that can automatically ticket drivers who illegally pass school buses.

The plan involves the county having an agreement with local school districts to install the cameras on specific school buses that travel routes where violations frequently occur.

At last week’s meeting, Senior Deputy County Attorney Dina DeBlasi gave a preliminary explanation of how the law would work. “There would be no upfront costs to the county nor to the school districts, and the installation would be done through a third party,” she said.

DeBlasi said she spoke to attorneys in Dutchess and Broome counties, where a local law has been passed. Both counties have issued requests for proposals for venders to install the cameras. “It’s similar to the red-light camera laws that many municipalities have,” she said. “It would be a civil law and be part of the county code.”

The camera would record the violation and the data would be monitored by the installer and submitted as evidence to the local court prosecuting the driver. Revenue from fines would be collected by the state comptroller, who would give 90 percent of the fine to the county and 10 percent to the town where the violation occurred.

The county would share part of the revenue with the installer.

According to the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles, current fines for passing a stopped school bus range from $250 for a first violation to $1,000 for three violations in three years. If a driver is convicted of three violations in three years, their driver’s license can be revoked for at least six months.

The New York Association for Pupil Transportation estimates there are 50,000 or more incidences of cars illegally passing a stopped school bus every school day in the State of New York.

Legislator Neal Sullivan, R-Mahopac, said the county executive has talked to some school districts and there is interest to move forward with the proposal. “They are concerned about the problem of people passing the school buses,” he said. “We want to prevent, at all costs, the danger of kids crossing the street and people not stopping for the bus.”

Legislator Nancy Montgomery, D-Philipstown, voiced support for the proposed law, but said she is concerned with what happens to the driver’s data that is collected by the license plate readers.

“I think this is a great program that can keep our kids safe,” she said. “But I just want to be clear what we’re talking about here. Is the data kept with the vender? And what are we doing with that data? It’s a slippery slope that violation fees would be going to a vender.”

Legislator Paul Jonke, R-Brewster, added: “I’m uncomfortable with the license plate readers. The agreement that I see here shows there is a privacy policy built into it, which we don’t have for our law enforcement. The privacy of our constituents is a concern to me.”

Montgomery noted that part of the law requires signage for those crossing county lines, informing drivers that school buses in the county use license plate readers. “Who is going to provide the funding to create those signs?” she asked.

Kathleen Foley from Cold Spring also expressed concern over the license plate readers.

“I’ve read this model law from the state and it is not clear who holds the data and who can maintain it,” she said. “It appears the vender holds the data, the sheriff’s department holds data, and now a third party will hold the data. That is a concern.”

Legislator Carl Albano, R-Carmel, said many of the questions being asked can’t, at this stage, be answered.

“I think we are spending too much time on this – it’s just a conceptual idea, which sounds good,” he said. “We don’t even know if we’re going to do it. Let’s get all the facts in and then jump into it with full force… To have questions we don’t have the answers to wastes a lot of time, and these meetings are very long. This is a preliminary discussion that we are going to explore.”

Albano said that when the plan for becomes a reality, that will be the time to address all the questions.

Judie Mirra, liaison/coordinator for the Putnam County Traffic Safety Board, said she has been pursuing this particular issue for the better part of a year.

“The reports coming from the school districts and the supervisors are unbelievable,” she said. “As much as I favor cameras being part of the investigating, they do not physically stop a car passing a stopped bus. What is important is having something that would physically stop a car from passing a stopped school bus. Collecting money for this is not the message – it’s all about saving a child’s life.”