by Natalie Calzetoni
News Partner 13WHAM

Henrietta, N.Y. (WHAM) — Community leaders gathered Thursday at the Rush-Henrietta Central School District transportation facility for the annual Operation Safe Stop event, aiming to remind motorists of the critical importance of stopping for school buses.

The event featured a reenactment of a student being struck to underscore the dangers of illegally passing a stopped school bus with flashing red lights.

An estimated 50,000 drivers illegally pass school buses every day in New York state.

David Richardson, President of the Rochester Area Transportation Supervisors Association, highlighted the severity of the issue.

"A recent survey of 892 school bus drivers reported 1,970 illegal passings in a typical school day," said Richardson, who also provided alarming statistics on the number of citations issued in local school districts for the 2024-25 school year.

"East Irondequoit 1,077, Hilton, 318, Greece, 3,839, and Webster, 1,003 and that’s through Friday, April 11," Richardson said. "That is a total of 6,237 citations for just four districts in 137 days of school."

Monroe County Executive Adam Bello explained the county’s partnership with a company called Bus Patrol, which equips school buses with cameras to catch violators.

"How it works is that if a car passes a stopped school bus, some of these school busses have cameras on them," Bello said. "Those cameras will take a picture of the license plate when it passes. The driver gets a $250 fine for their first offense. It increases with further violations."

Bello noted that since the installation of these cameras last fall, more than 11,000 tickets have been issued in participating districts.

"Wherever you’re going, it’s not more important than someone’s life," Bello said. "This could be your child, your grandchild, your neighbor. Do the right thing. Stop and wait."