A total of 847 citations containing $250 fines apiece are on their way to drivers whose cars were caught on camera illegally passing parked school buses during the first week of operations of the city’s new automated-enforcement program. City spokesperson Lenny Speiller and New Haven Public Sc hools (NHPS) spokesperson Justin Harmon provided the Independent with that update on Friday. Speiller and Harmon said that, between March 2 and March 6, the cameras that have been installed on city school buses documented 847 confirmed violations. That means 847 cars were caught on camera driving past a school bus when its red lights were flashing and its stop-arm was out as it dropped off or picked up students. The city, NHPS’ bus contractor First Student, and the city-hired firm BusPatrol started installing those cameras on New Haven’s 330 school buses earlier this year, as part of a program first pitched by the Elicker administration last May and approved by the Board of Alders in August. The city began a 30-day “warning period” for the new bus safety protocol on Jan. 30. Speiller told the Independent last week that the city sent out 1,880 warning letters to alleged violators between Jan. 30 and Feb. 25. Monday, March 2 marked the first day that drivers caught on camera illegally passing a school bus would receive a citation with a $250 fine, and not just a warning letter. In the program’s first full week — from Monday, March 2 through Friday, March 6 — school bus cameras caught 847 confirmed violations. (They also caught 59 “non-violations,” which Speiller defined as a “potential violation” that was ultimately found “not to be a violation upon review.”) “All our students deserve a safe commute to and from school,” Mayor Justin Elicker told the Independent in an email statement Friday. “In one week, student safety was compromised nearly 850 times by drivers who illegally passed yellow school buses. “It’s a well-known and common sense law: when a school bus puts out its stop arm and flashes its red lights, all other vehicles must stop. “Now, with $250 tickets being sent in the mail, we are hopeful that drivers will know we mean business and comply with the law. “We wish we didn’t have to issue a single ticket and that people would just obey the law, but we will not compromise when it comes to protecting our students.” In a separate comment provided to the Independent on Monday about all of the letters sent out during the 30-day warning period, BusPatrol Executive Vice President of Government Operations Ryan Monnell said, “New Haven’s students deserve to get to and from school safely, and BusPatrol is committed to helping the City make that a reality. The warning period showed just how often drivers were illegally passing stopped school buses, and now that the program is live, we’re working alongside the City and school district to support their enforcement and education efforts to protect their community.” The post Cameras Catch 847 Cars Illegally Passing School Buses appeared first on New Haven Independent. ...read more read less