School bus stop-arm camera program will be enforced from May 8

DORAL, FL – School bus stop-arm camera program in Miami-Dade will be enforced starting Wednesday, May 8th. This measure began to take shape a month ago when the school district granted a 30-day warning period and launched a campaign to educate drivers on the dangers of passing stopped school buses.

Now, the warning period has ended, and drivers caught passing illegally a stopped school bus in the county will receive a minimum $200 ticket in the mail.

The program, new in South Florida, allowed for Miami-Dade County Public Schools to equip its fleet of 1,000 school buses with stop-arms that will have cameras installed. These will be triggered automatically when the stop sign is deployed, and the bus is fully stopped.

Then, because the devices have the ability to detect movement on the left side of the bus, a photo of the license plate will be captured of any vehicle that passes illegally.

“This safety initiative seeks to curb dangerous motorist behavior around school buses and make the journey to and from school safer for all students,” said Luis Diaz, the Chief Operating Officer of M-DCPS, at Tuesday’s news conference.

The school bus stop-arm camera enforcement program is considered to be the largest one of its kind in the country and was made possible thanks to a partnership between Miami-Dade County Public Schools, Miami-Dade Police and BusPatrol.

In 2023, Governor Ron DeSantis signed legislation that allows the state’s school districts to use cameras to capture drivers who illegally pass stopped school buses with red flashing lights and extended stop signs.

But not only cameras in school bus stops were installed as buses now have interior cameras “to safeguard students and bus drivers against incidents that happen on the bus,” according to the school district.

The two measures come four months after Miami-Dade Board of County Commissioners approved to install school zone speed cameras within the county, and the City of Doral councilmembers agreed upon implementing the same system and later approved to start negotiations with potential operating company Verra Mobility.  

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