"The safety of New York's schoolchildren is our top
priority and reckless drivers who put our kids in danger must be held
accountable," Governor Cuomo said. "Motorists have a responsibility
to pay attention and abide by the law, especially when driving in the vicinity
of school buses, and these measures will ensure students make it to and from
school safely and help prevent needless tragedies."
In New York, approximately 1.5 million students ride school
buses to and from school every year. Although it is illegal to pass a stopped
school bus, on Operation Safe Stop in April 2018 - a day in which law
enforcement target citations for passing a stopped school bus - over 850 people
ignored the law and were ticketed. Extrapolated for 180 days of school, someone
passes a stopped school bus 150,000 times a year, endangering the safety of
school children.
To ensure students are safe on their way to and from school,
the Governor is proposing authorizing school districts to install stop-arm
cameras, which would document and record illegal passing of the school bus, and
issue a resulting ticket in order to stop this behavior for good. As an added
deterrent, the proposal would increase the fine for passing a stopped school
bus to further increase student safety. In addition, the Governor has put forth
a proposal that would require students to wear seatbelts on school buses.
Building on student safety reforms proposed in the FY 2020
Executive Budget, Governor Cuomo recently announced a proposal to formally reinstate
the speed camera program in New York City and more than double the number of
zones in which the cameras would be installed from 140 to 290. Speed cameras
are a proven method to not only reduce car crashes, but improve the
survivability rates in school zones. After the Republican-led Senate blocked
passage of legislation that would have allowed the program to continue in 2018,
Governor Cuomo declared a State of Emergency as a temporary means of
reinstating the program.
In 2016, Governor Cuomo modernized the school safety laws to
increase student safety. The updated laws required school districts to
designate a point of contact in case of emergency, increase training
requirements for faculty and staff and update safety drills to include a lock down
event.
