Miami-Dade relaunches school bus camera ticketing program

Authorities are relaunching a school bus ticketing program on Monday designed to catch drivers who illegally pass stopped school buses with cameras aboard the vehicles.

The Miami-Dade County Bus Infraction Detection Program was called off last year after what the Miami-Dade sheriff called “unacceptable errors” in enforcement.

The new program will take effect after a 14 day warning and education period, which will begin May 4.

“Each year, an estimated 40 million drivers in the U.S. illegally pass stopped school buses, endangering children as they board buses or step out onto the street. In Florida, statewide data has identified, on average, more than 8,000 violations daily,” officials said in a news release.

Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz suspended the ticketing program a year ago, after complaints including that drivers had received citations worth hundreds of dollars even when they obeyed the law. The sheriff also noted incorrect citation numbers and wrong fine amounts on some tickets before stopping the program last April.

“Since that time, important changes have been made. Those concerns helped lead to important clarification at the state level, changing the law statewide, strengthening the framework under which [BusPatrol, the company that operates the technology,] now operates, and ensuring greater consistency and transparency,” Cordero-Stutz said Friday.

Nine hundred buses will be equipped with cameras, and any potential violations will be reviewed by deputies before a driver receives a citation of $225.

Additionally, because of changes in state law, anyone who receives a ticket can have a local hearing to contest it.

Outstanding citations will be dismissed, officials said.