When parents put their children on the bus, the expectation is that they will be safe, but State Senator Tim Kennedy believes there are just too many close calls.
"Across the state of New York, there are 50,000 cars that make a conscious decision to break the law, to pass stopped school buses as they're transporting our children and put our children's lives at risk each and every day," Kennedy said.
That's why he's sponsoring a bill, now backed by the State Senate and Assembly, that would allow cameras to be mounted on the stop-arm of school buses.
We weren't able to talk to Kennedy about the bill directly, but his office sent us a video statement from Albany.
Essentially if a car passes a bus that's stopped, the camera would start recording to capture the driver's license plate.
The Niagara Falls Superintendent of Schools, Mark Laurrie, also supports the idea, but he's concerned about the cost.
"We hope for state support," Laurrie said. "We hope for foundation or grant support, but if that's not the case, it will really put the district in a position that they'll have to find the money because one. Just one single incident that could've been prevented will be worth all the dollars that we could spend."
However, Senator Kennedy imagines it will be a lot simpler than that.
If the bill goes into effect, municipalities and school districts would have to opt-in.
A third-party company would install the cameras at no cost up front.
Then that company would be paid back through the fees collected from drivers ticketed.
Under that arrangement, a spokesperson with Kennedy's office told us they anticipate no additional costs for the school districts or the taxpayers.
When it comes to the expense of storage, the camera ops company is expected to handle it.
It's a new concept here in New York, but 16 other states have implemented similar legislation.
"We want to make sure that we are holding these individuals accountable, and this legislation is gonna do just that," Kennedy said.
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