Over 30,000 violations recorded for passing a stopped school bus

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — New numbers show just how many drivers in the City of Buffalo have been caught passing a stopped school bus.

The city’s camera enforcement program has been tracking these violations for the last five months. The safety program uses artificial intelligence and is in partnership with BusPatrol, the company providing the cameras on each school bus.

According to Octavio Villegas, director of the Buffalo Traffic Violation Agency, 31,000 potential violations have been recorded since Oct. 1. To put that number into perspective, that’s enough to fill the Keybank Center 1 1/2 times.

There have already been 23,000 tickets sent out to drivers. But how many have actually been paid? Only 11,208. That means less than 50% of people have paid up.

With first-offense fines starting at $250, that’s nearly $3 million the city and BusPatrol are waiting on.

According to city officials, the City of Buffalo only receives 40% of the money from the tickets. BusPatrol receives 60%, a larger portion due to BusPatrol operating the program.

“Every driver has a responsibility to stop for a school bus,” said Villegas. “It’s a law that is in place and here in the City of Buffalo, we’re enforcing it.”

The people in charge of deciding who ultimately gets ticketed are not police officers. They are civilian employees who take a course through BusPatrol that teaches them how to detect violations.

“They go through levels of review, so BusPatrol, after their program captures the event, will then be reviewed by trained reviewers by the vendor (BusPatrol),” said Villegas. “They then send those events to the City of Buffalo.”

Villegas emphasized safety will continue to be the top priority, especially when it comes to protecting students. He urged drivers to continue to slow down, be patient, and be mindful of stopped school buses.

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Trina Catterson joined the News 4 team in 2024. She previously worked at WETM-TV in Elmira, a sister station of WIVB. See more of her work here.

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