MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – More than 10,000 South Florida drivers received notices in the mail in the last month.
They were warnings from the Miami-Dade Police Department that they had been caught on a school bus camera breaking a traffic law by illegally passing a stopped school bus.
All 1,000 Miami-Dade school busses were recently equipped with stop-arm enforcement cameras designed to snap a photo of license plates of cars that illegally pass stopped school buses.
Starting Wednesday, the grace period ends and police said drivers won’t get another informational warning in the mail, they’ll be hit with a $200 fine, citing a Florida statute that says a driver must stop when a stopped bus displays a stop signal and remain stopped until the signal is withdrawn.
Miami-Dade Schools is partnering with local police and BusPatrol in the program.
They say it’s the largest school bus stop-arm camera enforcement program in the nation.
Ticket Clinic Managing Attorney Benjamin Baxter calls the new effort a money grab.
“I don’t think it’s about safety it’s about another source of revenue for the county,” he said. “If it was meant to stop people from running the school bus stop signs there would be teeth to it.”
Baxter said if a driver pays the violation within 30 days, it goes away, making it more like a toll than a ticket.
No points are added to the driver’s record. A driver could rack up dozens of violations.
“It only affects your pocketbook,” he said.
Baxter also sees complications ahead.
“If you haven’t updated your address, you might not even know you got a notice of violation,” he said. “You’re going to get a ticket and then have your license suspended for something you didn’t even know was out there and I think that’s gonna happen a lot.”
With that in mind, Baxter offered advice if you get a notice of violation in the mail.
“The number one thing a person should do if they get a notice a violation for running a stop sign is to call an attorney and consult a lawyer before you do anything with it,” he said.