Drivers face fines under new bus safety program in Yonkers
Passing a school bus will cost you $250 for a first violation, $275 for a second offense, and $300 for every following offense within an 18-month period.
More Stories
If you pass a stopped school bus in Yonkers, it's going to cost you.
"I get complaints from constituents all the time about people that just carelessly pass a school bus," says Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano.
Yonkers parent Christina Pagano has seen it for herself.
"It’s nerve-wracking," says Pagano. "Because you're afraid for your kid, for someone else's kid. These are small children who were entrusting with the buses and were hoping that they're safe getting to and from school."
And this is a problem across the state. It’s estimated that about 50,000 drivers illegally pass a stopped school bus every day in New York.
But beginning November 13, a failure to stop in Yonkers is going to cost you.
The city is installing mounted cameras on all 400 buses in the district as part of its new Yonkers Safe Stop School Bus Safety Program
The camera is activated when a car passes by the school bus.
"If you are passing a school bus, there will be a picture taken of your license plate and then there will be a ticket that will get generated and there will be a fine that will be sent to your home," says Mayor Spano.
It will cost you $250 for a first violation, $275 for a second offense, and $300 for every following offense within an 18-month period.
The program will debut on October 13, but for the first 30 days of the program they'll only be issuing "warnings." Tickets will start going out on November 13.
