The City of Bridgeport released data Thursday on the shocking number of drivers caught on camera illegally passing stopped school buses in the city since the beginning of the school year.
From Sept. 3, 2023 to Feb. 3, 2024, nearly 10,000 motorists passed school buses that were stopped with lights flashing, according to Bridgeport officials.
The incidents were captured by cameras on the school buses. The city released video of some of the incidents.
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“It is unacceptable that there are motorists who are blatantly putting our children in danger by illegally passing stopped school buses," Mayor Joseph Ganim said in a statement. "We will take the necessary steps to crack down on these violations to ensure that our children are not being threatened by the carelessness of drivers while school buses are making their pickup and drop-off routes.”
In all, cameras on 74 buses captured 9,860 incidents of drivers illegally passing school buses, according to Bridgeport officials. That breaks down to 75 violations per weekday, city officials said.
The bus stop with the highest number of violations was the 100 block of Logan Street with 1,671 violations, according to the data. That is almost three times as many violations as the next highest stop in the 100 block of Davenport Street.
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According to Bridgeport officials, the school buses are equipped with cameras and sensors with AI technology that not only record video, but also capture the vehicle's license plate information.
