Alarming number of Miami-Dade drivers ticketed for illegally passing school buses
MIAMI - Miami-Dade police are warning drivers about the consequences of illegally passing a school bus and have released a video on social media showing the violators.
The video shows kids coming dangerously close to being hit by cars as they walk across the street to board the school bus. That's because drivers are ignoring the rules of the road.
"One of the trends that we have been seeing for quite some time is actually a lot of our children that have been hurt as they are trying to board or get off the bus to go to school or go home," said Detective Angel Rodriguez.
Cameras installed on school bus stoparms are catching drivers illegally passing them when they are stopped.
"We have officers that review the footage. When they see that a violation has taken place, a citation is automatically sent to the driver," said Rodriguez.
According to police, since the beginning of this school year, there have been 11,500 school bus violations, an average of around 1,600 violations per school day.
"The numbers are staggering. They're through the roof and I feel that as a county, our drivers, and we also have a community we can do better than that. We have a responsibility to ensure that our children are able to go to school and from school, which includes them using Miami-Dade school buses," said Rodriguez.
Miami-Dade police want to remind all drivers if a school bus is stopped on a two-lane road they must stop as well.
"The only exception is if you have a raised median or a divided highway. The vehicles that are going with the flow of the school bus, those vehicles need to stop. The vehicles that are on coming do not need to stop, however, they need to slow and use precaution," said Rodriguez.
So, follow the rules. If you don't you will get fined $225. The fine was less but because of the number of violations it has been raised.