Today, BusPatrol shared an alarming video of illegal school bus stop-arm violations, recorded during the first half of the 2024-2025 school year (video below). Last summer, Hillsborough County Public Schools (HCPS) partnered with BusPatrol to install cutting-edge technology on its entire bus fleet to improve student safety and reduce reckless driving around stopped school buses.
According to recent news reports, Florida now RANKS SECOND in the United States for FATAL school bus accidents, and the Florida Department of Education reports over 11,000 illegal passes occur every day—equivalent to nearly 2 million violations over the course of a 180-day school year.
One close call captured a car racing toward a group of more than four students boarding a school bus with stop-arms flashing. This harrowing moment occurs 14 seconds into this video compilation. In the same video, at 51 seconds a student crosses the street to get on the bus just seconds before a car blows past the same spot the child was walking.
Steve Randazzo, Chief Growth Officer at BusPatrol said, “Through the BusPatrol program, school districts and law enforcement come together to make students’ journeys to and from school safer and prevent tragedies. Not only do our cameras capture stop-arm violations, but we use AI to try and identify dangerous bus stops on a route. Our goal is to prevent even one child from being hurt and we are calling on local motorists to share in this moral responsibility to protect our children on their journey to and from school.”
Recent Reports
Since January, reports have exposed tragic crashes involving school bus stop arm violations, read more:
Hernando County 11-year-old dies after being hit getting off school bus [WFLA]
Around 3:39 p.m. on Tuesday, the child had just gotten off the bus and was walking along Eskimo Curlew Road north of Osprey Avenue.
FHP said that the child was on the edge of the road when a Toyota Corolla driven by a 65-year-old Brooksville woman hit her.
She was rushed to the hospital with serious injuries where, according to FHP, the girl died late Tuesday night.
Driver hits girl walking from school bus after failing to stop in Pasco: FHP [WFTS]
A 13-year-old girl was taken to the hospital after she was hit by a driver who failed to stop for a school bus on Wednesday, according to officials.
The girl suffered non-life-threatening injuries and was taken to a local hospital.
This is the second report we’ve received in less than three days about a child getting hit after being dropped off by a school bus.
School Bus Safety Campaign
Highlights from the school bus safety campaign that ran at the beginning of the 2024/2025 school year can be found here. This program is not about generating fines, it’s a way of changing driver’s behavior over time and educating everyone driving on our roads about the consequences for passing school buses.
When to stop for a school bus in Florida:
For more information on BusPatrol and to learn more about school bus safety, click here