Bus Safety Initiative Hits Phase Two in Onondaga County

LAFAYETTE, N.Y. (CITRUSTV NEWS) — This school year, Onondaga County rolled out its Bus Safety Initiative, penalizing drivers who drive past school buses while their stop signs are out. 

“The goal here is to make sure that kids are safe, that parents who are working are not worried about their kids getting on and off the bus,” Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon said. 

Today, the county announced phase two of its initiative at the Lafayette Transportation Center, and talked about the successes of phase one. 

“Out of the overall violations that were picked up, we had about 3,859 of them. We have about a team of seven individuals that review these, and out of those numbers, we have approved 1,647,” said McMahon. 

McMahon also stated that there will be increased penalties for drivers who commit violations multiple times, with tickets jumping from $250 to $275 for habitual offenders. 

“It’ll move up to $275 for multiple violation parties,” McMahon said. 

LaFayette Interim Superintendent, Dan Bowles, said that this is one more step in the right direction to deter aggressive drivers from passing school buses that are dropping off children. 

“These programs as they continue to get moved on so that every school district has the stop arm cameras is where we want to be, and this is just one more step in the phase that we’re looking at,” Bowles said. 

McMahon announced that the county should expect phase three to be rolled out around early 2026.

Reporter: Drew Matyasik