Westchester County is facing a school bus safety crisis endangering our kids. 

Every day, hundreds of drivers across Westchester recklessly pass stopped school buses with little or no consequence, putting kids’ lives in danger every single time.

Over the course of the back-to-school period this year, pilot programs in two Westchester County school districts (Somers Central and Hendrick Hudson) captured more than 640 illegal school bus passings. These revealed shocking video evidence of hundreds of drivers recklessly ignoring school bus stop-arms and flashing red stoplights.

That’s why Westchester County must pass legislation allowing school districts to implement bus stop-arm photo enforcement programs. 

Stop-arm enforcement programs curb dangerous driving around school buses. They leverage the latest advanced technology using artificial intelligence in cameras to catch every violation on our roads which otherwise escape traditional accountability.

These programs are a critical public safety tool for school districts and local law enforcement, combining public education and sustainable enforcement, and are proven to dramatically curb dangerous driving behavior around school buses. They are also available to communities at no cost to the local taxpayer – these programs are entirely violator funded.

Westchester County school districts need our support.

Every other county in the New York City region can make use of these stop-arm enforcement programs – but not us. It makes no sense, and it’s not fair to our kids. As a result, our school buses are denied the opportunity to utilize advanced photo enforcement technology to catch lawbreakers and issue citations to motorists who illegally pass a stopped school bus.

Neighboring suburban counties, including Rockland, Dutchess, Putnam, and Suffolk counties, as well as several municipalities in Nassau County on Long Island, have all passed local laws and approved full fleet, zero-cost bus safety programs.

Sign the petition to tell Westchester County officials to act now!

Our state legislators listened, now we demand our county legislators hear us too. With strong public support for such legislation, we can help affect change. Take a few minutes to add your name to the petition and join us in our efforts to keep kids safe.