Florida Union Free schools adopt stop-arm cameras to catch bus violators

Florida Union Free School District has joined Orange County’s stop-arm camera enforcement, putting bus-mounted technology on the front line against drivers who illegally pass school buses while children are boarding or getting off.

The move extends Orange County’s School Bus Safety Program, which launched in 2024 under New York State Vehicle and Traffic Law 1174-A. The county said the system was designed to reduce illegal passing, improve student safety and give school officials and municipalities data they can use to focus attention on bus stops where violations are more common.

The cameras are part of a countywide rollout that began May 8, 2024 with a warning period, before fines started June 8, 2024. Orange County later expanded the program to include Warwick Valley Central School District, Greenwood Lake Union Free School District and Goshen Central School District, and by April 2026 said 14 of its 17 school districts had buses outfitted with stop-arm cameras.

BusPatrol provides the technology. Its AI-powered, cloud-connected cameras are mounted on buses near the stop arm and emergency door to capture vehicles and license plates from multiple angles. Potential violations are reviewed before tickets are issued, a safeguard that helps separate possible incidents from cases that do not meet the standard for a citation.

The civil penalty starts at $250 for a first violation, with higher penalties for repeat offenses within 18 months. The ticket is assigned to the vehicle owner, not the driver, and it does not add driver-license points or insurance-rate consequences. Orange County officials have said the program is intended to work as both a deterrent and an education tool, while keeping direct costs off school districts, municipalities and the county because the system is funded through violation revenue.

The issue is not abstract in New York. The state DMV says 2.3 million children are transported by more than 50,000 school buses each year, and children ages 4 to 8 are the most vulnerable in school-bus fatalities. Drivers are required to stop at least 20 feet away when red lights flash and the stop arm is deployed.

By April 2026, Orange County said it had approved 34,000 violations since June 2024, with about 60 percent of reviewed videos cleared for tickets. For Florida Union Free, the decision signals a sharper enforcement approach that county leaders hope will change behavior at bus stops before a child gets hurt.