Look out, bad drivers. Broward school buses now have cameras to issue tickets

Education admin August 13, 2026 0 Comments

Look out, bad drivers. Broward school buses now have cameras to issue tickets

When a school bus stops in Broward County, hit the brakes. If you don’t, new AI-powered cameras installed on the buses could leave bad drivers stuck with a pricey ticket.

With class back in session this week, the school district launched its new Broward County School Bus Safety Program, a collaboration between the district, the Broward County Public Schools Police Department and BusPatrol, a private company that equips school buses with cameras that use artificial intelligence to detect drivers that illegally pass a school bus while the stop-arm is deployed.

There is currently a 30-day grace period in which drivers will receive a warning, not a ticket. Starting Sept. 9, drivers who don’t stop for school buses may be hit with a $225 citation.

“When stop arm comes out, the camera starts rolling,” said Superintendent Howard Hepburn.

Broward Schools launched its program with BusPatrol shortly after Miami-Dade County Public Schools relaunched a similar program with the same company in May. Last May, Miami-Dade County Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz suspended the program after a Miami Herald/Florida Tributary investigation found that Miami-Dade drivers received faulty citations that were virtually impossible to challenge in court.

But officials in both counties say they’ve fixed the program.

Cordero-Stutz said at a press conference this year that changes made by the legislature on how BusPatrol can operate convinced her that the program will not be plagued by the same issues again. Hepburn told the Herald he also feels confident that the problems Miami-Dade had in the past will not happen in Broward.

“It’s different for us. That’s why we took our time,” Hepburn said.

Hepburn said Broward Schools learned from the experiences of other school districts before launching its bus safety program with BusPatrol. While the cameras are programmed to detect when a driver inappropriately passes a stopped school bus, a “human being from our school police department” reviews every video to determine if there was a violation before a citation is sent out, he said.

“We were able to work with BusPatrol. Our legal team was able to get certain things in the contract, so we can mitigate all of those concerns that other school districts experienced So we can have a better rollout,” Hepburn said. “People can have confidence that they don’t have to worry about the issues that others have experienced in school districts around the country.”

Steven Randazzo, the BusPatrol chief growth operator, said the company will mail the notice of violation to the owner of the vehicle, who will have three options listed on the notice. That person can pay the fine, transfer liability (if the owner of the vehicle was not the driver) or request a hearing to challenge the citation.

The mailed notices also include a link to view the same video of the alleged violation that the police officer saw, Randazzo said. The citations amount to a fine and do not put points on a driver’s license.

About 400 school districts nationwide use BusPatrol, Randazzo said.

“The program will be administered with the utmost professionalism, integrity and transparency. Like any new program, there’s always ways to get a little bit better and for lessons to be learned,” he said. “But the school district, like Dr. Hepburn said, thoroughly vetted the technology and the processes.”