BROWARD COUNTY, Fla. — Starting this new school year, every Broward County school bus will be equipped with cameras designed to catch drivers who ignore the law and illegally pass stopped school buses.
The first day of school is set for Aug. 10, and district leaders are warning drivers they will face tougher enforcement for passing a bus while students are getting on or off.
It is a violation officials say happens too often: A school bus comes to a stop, the stop arm extends, lights begin flashing and some drivers continue moving.
Broward County School Board Chair Sarah Leonardi said the cameras are intended to change driver behavior and prevent dangerous situations.
“These cameras are meant to deter dangerous driving, and people passing school buses on the road,” she said.
Broward County School Board member Allen Zeman said drivers need to understand the importance of slowing down and following the law.
“The message for Broward County is crystal clear: take your time, save a life,” he said.
Broward County School Board members, along with Superintendent Howard Hepburn, unveiled the new school bus safety program on Thursday.
“For this program, it’s going to be a 30-day grace period and warning, starting at the beginning of the school year just to make sure every citizen in Broward County is educated on this program,” Hepburn said.
The warning period ends Sept. 9. After that, school officials say drivers who illegally pass a stopped school bus with its stop arm extended and lights flashing could receive a $225 citation.
“Our school police officers will be doing their due diligence and go through each infraction and reviewing it, just to make sure they are accurate, and issuing those infractions to folks who are violating the law,” Hepburn added.
The AI-powered camera technology will be installed on all 1,300 Broward County school buses. Each bus will have at least eight cameras recording from multiple angles whenever students are boarding or exiting.
The system includes an AI overview camera that provides a wider view of traffic and works with license plate recognition cameras to identify violations.
“This sort of gives a bird’s-eye view of all the traffic across all lanes and it’s synchronized with the license plate reading cameras,” said Steve Randazzo with BusPatrol.
The equipment costs about $10,000 per bus. District leaders said taxpayers will not pay for the program through the school district’s budget.
“Zero dollars comes out of the school district budget,” Randazzo added. “To operate the program, BusPatrol takes on all of those expenses.”
The cost of the program is expected to be covered through citation revenue. BusPatrol funded the camera installation and will use most of the revenue to cover expenses associated with the program, including court costs and personnel who review citations.
Of each $225 citation, $140 will go to BusPatrol, while $85 will go to Broward County Public Schools for additional safety initiatives and enhanced safety protocols.
The district reported 1,244 illegal passings during the 2025-26 school year.
Broward County school police officers will also review citations before they are issued to make sure violations are accurate.
The reports indicate that bus operators saw 1,244 vehicles pass a school bus while the stop arm was extended and the bus was either loading or unloading students. Officials say the total includes incidents involving district buses, as well as charter schools and vendors that transport students.
District leaders say the goal is not to write more tickets — it is to keep students safe.
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