SNYDER, N.Y. — Channel 2 is the station On Your Side, so we noticed when a dad in Snyder shared a video on social media of his daughter's school bus getting passed by a car and had questions about what was being done.
It wasn't happening once or twice but rather every Wednesday between 2:06 and 2:08 p.m. according to Luis Rodriguez.
"The first few times I just kind of ignored it," said Rodriguez, whose daughter attends the Amherst School District.
He cut the driver some slack, thinking they were in a hurry or it was a one-off but then noticed a pattern.
"It was the same vehicle... crossing the left side or the right side of the bus," Rodriguez said.
On one occasion, he said the driver tried passing between his driveway and his daughter getting off the bus. He used trash cans to block their way, which was the tipping point.
"That's really when I started recording the incidents," he said.
He scheduled his doorbell camera to record every Wednesday and on at least three occasions, captured the same make, model, and color SUV flying by.
Rodriguez was concerned for the worst.
"[My daughter] gets out of the bus pretty quick, it's not worth a life for 30 to 60 seconds just to get to a destination on time," Rodriguez said.
He shared his compilation on the Snyder community page and with Amherst Police, who said Rodriguez is not alone.
"It is a frequent problem unfortunately we get several complaints monthly," said Amherst Police Captain Charles Persons.
Captain Persons is the head of the police department's traffic division and while he could not comment on Rodriguez's specific case he told 2 On Your Side it's not isolated.
"We get all different kinds of excuses from I didn't see the bus stopping, I didn't know what the rules were because it's on the other side of the road or you know, I'm in a hurry and I thought I could make it," Persons said.
He said neighbors like Rodriguez are invaluable in cases like this because as much as police would like to be everywhere at once, they can't be.
2 On Your Side is not sharing the license plate of the vehicle because the driver in the videos has not been ticketed for passing the bus. Persons said Amherst Police will take and investigate all complaints, but he cautioned not every complaint leads to charges or a driver being ticketed.
Complaints are more often a jumping-off point for a police investigation.
Captain Person added that videos like this are a good reminder for drivers to know the law for passing a school bus.
"It's really when somebody makes an egregious pass of the school bus. If you're driving right next to the school bus you don't have the opportunity to stop immediately but if you're approaching that vehicle and you see those yellow flashing lights come on and eventually the red flashing lights and the stop arm you do have an obligation to stop," Persons said.
Rodriguez is urging all drivers, not just those passing through Amherst to take note.
"Hopefully maybe the person doing it will stop, but until that time I'm just going to keep recording," he said.
Not by coincidence, Rodriguez told 2 On Your Side he has gotten one result.
He said the driver of a car matching the one in his videos and the description he provided to Amherst Police was ticketed for speeding past his house, on Monday around 2 p.m.