Reader TTS

About $20 million in traffic tickets racked up by Long Island drivers thanks to school-bus cameras are valid — even though the devices were never authorized for widespread use, according to

officials. Some school districts in Hempstead — the largest township in the country — approved the use of the cameras on their buses to catch dangerous scofflaws who fail to properly stop

when kids are present. But other villages’ districts did not authorize the cameras’ use for that purpose, and controversy erupted when motorists in those areas still got ticketed for failing

to improperly stop for buses based on the devices’ footage. Hempstead Township initially said it might have to toss the tens of thousands of tickets issued in districts that did not

authorize the cameras. But in a stunning recent reversal, it told Newsday that the fines would stand. “The Town remains steadfast in its commitment to this critical child safety program,”

said John Maccarone, the township’s lawyer, said in a statement to the outlet in defense of the program involving its private bus vendor, BusPatrol. EXPLORE MORE Maccarone argued that a

review turned up no improperly issued violations, thus his previous concerns about the program “overreaching its legal authority” were allayed. The bulk of the controversy involves more than

80,000 citations issued in four village school districts — Baldwin, Hempstead, Lawrence and Valley Stream — that had never authorized the use of cameras on their school buses for traffic

scofflaws. State law, and Hempstead’s own 2022 ordinance, requires written agreements between school districts and local governments for such use the cameras. But despite those rules, the

township and BusPatrol pressed ahead with enforcing traffic law based on the cameras’ footage in every district, issuing $20 million in tickets from just those four districts alone,

regardless of whether they signed any pact. Each ticket carries a minimum $250 fine, with 55% of the money going to the town and the rest to BusPatrol — a financial arrangement that has

drawn scrutiny in multiple class-action lawsuits now pending against the program. In January, Hempstead Town Supervisor Don Clavin said he was “demanding” refunds or dismissals for any

improperly issued tickets. But five months later, officials have not followed through. Meanwhile, new data shows citations in the disputed districts have plummeted, dropping to just 416 so

far this year, or about 2% of the total 20,956 issued town-wide. In 2023 and 2024, Baldwin, Hempstead, and Lawrence made up 26% of the more than 270,000 school-bus camera tickets issued by

the township — not including Valley Stream, whose boundaries overlap with districts that do participate. No one in the town government would comment on the massive drop in ticketing. The

ticket avalanche froze traffic court proceedings at its h eight. Nassau County, which adjudicates the violations, paused hearings on the tickets earlier this year “to ensure proper

procedures were followed.” Some drivers now report their court dates are being rescheduled — but it’s still not clear whether tickets from the four non-participating districts will be part

of those hearings. BusPatrol did not respond to a Post request for comment.