Drivers who illegally pass stopped Newport News school buses to be fined

Drivers who illegally pass stopped school buses in Newport News will soon receive fines in the mail.

Newport News Public Schools and the Newport News Police Department partnered with BusPatrol to install stoparm cameras on all 340 of the school system’s buses. Drivers caught passing the stopped buses will receive violation notices in the mail — with a minimum fine of $250 for the first offense.

“We each play an important part in making sure our young people get to and from school safely,” Mayor McKinley Price said in a video announcement. “This initiative from BusPatrol will help us hold drivers accountable and protect our city’s most valuable resource, our children.”

Virginia law requires drivers to stop for a school bus with its lights activated and stop-arm extended — including those headed in the opposite direction if the road is not separated by barriers.

BusPatrol, a Virginia-based company, provided the cameras at no immediate cost to the city or school district. The cameras are paid for with the money from the violations.

The stop-arm cameras can monitor up to eight lanes of traffic and additional exterior cameras record the windshield view, passenger loading zone and rear view, according to BusPatrol’s website. The memory for the cameras holds 22 days’ worth of video and data.

Security staff will monitor for violations and then work with the police department to process evidence. When drivers receive a ticket, they’ll also receive the video footage of the infraction.

Drivers across the country illegally pass stopped school buses more than 17 million times a year, according to the National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation. In 2016, six Newport News school buses were equipped with cameras to catch drivers who ignored the buses’ stop signals. At the time, cameras recorded more than 700 violators in about four months, according to Daily Press archives.