Duval County School Police have issued about 4,000 citations since schools reopened August 10 for motorists illegally driving past buses stopped for kids to board or get off, the school district reported.
“Stopping is not optional," Duval County Public Schools Transportation Director Chayla Ferguson said in an August 26 release.
The citation count reflects impacts of the school district’s decision in March to outfit more than 900 school buses with artificial intelligence-enhanced cameras wired to work when bus stop-arms open to display stop signs.
Images of vehicles driving past the warnings are forwarded to school police who review them and decide which ones are conclusive enough to issue $225 citations to the vehicle owners.
The citations don’t
count against owners’ driving records, although state law still lets people challenge their tickets.
The school district began using the stop-arm cameras for warnings in April and began issuing citations in May. By comparison to the citation count in August, the district said school police reviewed 803 potential citations in the first three weeks of April and issued 609 warnings.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: DCPS: 4,000 cited for passing school buses since school year's start
