Police Issued More Than 54,000 School Bus Citations to Motorists in 2018-19

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My husband got one.

The bus was on westbound Randolph and he was on eastbound Randolph. It's a major 6 lane road separated by a huge median strip. Who knew everyone needed to stop on the opposite side of the median strip? What's the purpose? Kids weren't crossing (it wasn't at a light or crosswalk). And nobody stopped.

They don't. That's not the law. Did your husband appeal the citation?

Did the citation say to pay alertbus.com ? That's a website in Louisiana.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m confused by this “MCPS/police don’t get any money” sentiment. Doesn’t money collected from tickets go to the county and thus become part of county income, which is used to fund the budget, which includes, among money other things, money for the police and schools?

No.

Ask your County Councilmember why he/she thinks that is OK. The Council just held a hearing on this on Monday and made it clear they don't care where the money goes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So what you're saying is bussing pays for itself!

It's a huge profit center for the county. You think they'd have more of it!

No dollars go to the County.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My husband got one.

The bus was on westbound Randolph and he was on eastbound Randolph. It's a major 6 lane road separated by a huge median strip. Who knew everyone needed to stop on the opposite side of the median strip? What's the purpose? Kids weren't crossing (it wasn't at a light or crosswalk). And nobody stopped.

They don't. That's not the law. Did your husband appeal the citation?

Did the citation say to pay alertbus.com ? That's a website in Louisiana.

He just paid it. I think it was $100?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FANTASTIC!

People drive around buses All.The.Time in my Silver Spring neighborhood. Even the parents who drive their kids to the bus stop. I don't understand it! You are dropping your OWN kid off at the bus stop, and then you zoom around the bus??

Glad they are cracking down.

I got a ticket from one of these. A bus stopped in front of a day care curb. I was three lanes away on the other side of the bus where there is no sidewalk. Since there was no median on this four lane road, I was breaking the law. If there is a median separating the right two lanes and left two lanes, then passing the bus is legal.

Apparently, these bus tickets have clogged the local courts, since the buses are required to run the yellow flashing lights for at least 100 feet(?) before deploying the red blinking stop signs. A lot of bus drivers don't do this.

The video is reviewed four times by different people before a citation is issued. They all check to see if the bus driver turned on the yellow lights. You won’t get a ticket if the bus driver did something wrong. .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m confused by this “MCPS/police don’t get any money” sentiment. Doesn’t money collected from tickets go to the county and thus become part of county income, which is used to fund the budget, which includes, among money other things, money for the police and schools?

No.

Ask your County Councilmember why he/she thinks that is OK. The Council just held a hearing on this on Monday and made it clear they don't care where the money goes.

The Council work sessions was focused on safety, in an effort to alert residents of the program and the law. Many are ignorant. It wasn’t about money. That worksession will be on September.

The company outfitted all the buses up front without payment. In exchange for all camera ticket revenue until the equipment is paid for. Then the revenue gets split. The split has not been determined yet.

People are paying the fines. I have no idea where that rumor is coming from. If you pay the citation directly, right now, the company gets it. If you contest the ticket in court, the State gets it. After the contract has been modified to split revenues, county revenue will be used for pedestrian safety initiatives, just like speed and red light camera revenues are.


It’s not clogging up the courts. There is a separate administrative docket for all automated traffic enforcement citations.

The reviewers give the drivers the benefit of the doubt, and in about one quarter of the cases, no citation is issued. Both the vendor and several levels of police review the video.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FANTASTIC!

People drive around buses All.The.Time in my Silver Spring neighborhood. Even the parents who drive their kids to the bus stop. I don't understand it! You are dropping your OWN kid off at the bus stop, and then you zoom around the bus??

Glad they are cracking down.

I got a ticket from one of these. A bus stopped in front of a day care curb. I was three lanes away on the other side of the bus where there is no sidewalk. Since there was no median on this four lane road, I was breaking the law. If there is a median separating the right two lanes and left two lanes, then passing the bus is legal.

Apparently, these bus tickets have clogged the local courts, since the buses are required to run the yellow flashing lights for at least 100 feet(?) before deploying the red blinking stop signs. A lot of bus drivers don't do this.

The video is reviewed four times by different people before a citation is issued. They all check to see if the bus driver turned on the yellow lights. You won’t get a ticket if the bus driver did something wrong. .

That's complete garbage. 54,000 citations and you think each one is reviewed 4 times? There are only 2 people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m confused by this “MCPS/police don’t get any money” sentiment. Doesn’t money collected from tickets go to the county and thus become part of county income, which is used to fund the budget, which includes, among money other things, money for the police and schools?

No.

Ask your County Councilmember why he/she thinks that is OK. The Council just held a hearing on this on Monday and made it clear they don't care where the money goes.

The Council work sessions was focused on safety, in an effort to alert residents of the program and the law. Many are ignorant. It wasn’t about money. That worksession will be on September.

The company outfitted all the buses up front without payment. In exchange for all camera ticket revenue until the equipment is paid for. Then the revenue gets split. The split has not been determined yet.

People are paying the fines. I have no idea where that rumor is coming from. If you pay the citation directly, right now, the company gets it. If you contest the ticket in court, the State gets it. After the contract has been modified to split revenues, county revenue will be used for pedestrian safety initiatives, just like speed and red light camera revenues are.


It’s not clogging up the courts. There is a separate administrative docket for all automated traffic enforcement citations.

The reviewers give the drivers the benefit of the doubt, and in about one quarter of the cases, no citation is issued. Both the vendor and several levels of police review the video.

Good try but you are blowing smoke.

The Council meeting was to cover up, not alert. The Council knows the problems with this scheme. There is no September meeting scheduled.
Fines are not being paid. It's not a rumor, it's a fact. The money is not there. If you know so much, why don't you explain where all the money is, since it is missing.
Let's see your documentation.

The company MCPS contracted with doesn't even exist anymore and they haven't paid their taxes.
The Police only have a couple of people to handle these citations, they don't have several layers. You think the Police are spending $2 million to make money for a company that is defunct?

Courts didn't have a docket for these citations before and so yes, the addition of this citation scheme is clogging up District Court.

Now go find the fine money, $14 million is missing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m confused by this “MCPS/police don’t get any money” sentiment. Doesn’t money collected from tickets go to the county and thus become part of county income, which is used to fund the budget, which includes, among money other things, money for the police and schools?

No.

Ask your County Councilmember why he/she thinks that is OK. The Council just held a hearing on this on Monday and made it clear they don't care where the money goes.

The Council work sessions was focused on safety, in an effort to alert residents of the program and the law. Many are ignorant. It wasn’t about money. That worksession will be on September.

The company outfitted all the buses up front without payment. In exchange for all camera ticket revenue until the equipment is paid for. Then the revenue gets split. The split has not been determined yet.

People are paying the fines. I have no idea where that rumor is coming from. If you pay the citation directly, right now, the company gets it. If you contest the ticket in court, the State gets it. After the contract has been modified to split revenues, county revenue will be used for pedestrian safety initiatives, just like speed and red light camera revenues are.


It’s not clogging up the courts. There is a separate administrative docket for all automated traffic enforcement citations.

The reviewers give the drivers the benefit of the doubt, and in about one quarter of the cases, no citation is issued. Both the vendor and several levels of police review the video.

Good try but you are blowing smoke.

The Council meeting was to cover up, not alert. The Council knows the problems with this scheme. There is no September meeting scheduled.
Fines are not being paid. It's not a rumor, it's a fact. The money is not there. If you know so much, why don't you explain where all the money is, since it is missing.
Let's see your documentation.

The company MCPS contracted with doesn't even exist anymore and they haven't paid their taxes.
The Police only have a couple of people to handle these citations, they don't have several layers. You think the Police are spending $2 million to make money for a company that is defunct?

Courts didn't have a docket for these citations before and so yes, the addition of this citation scheme is clogging up District Court.

Now go find the fine money, $14 million is missing.

1st PP: This was a plausible answer. Thank you.

2nd PP, lay off the sativa.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FANTASTIC!

People drive around buses All.The.Time in my Silver Spring neighborhood. Even the parents who drive their kids to the bus stop. I don't understand it! You are dropping your OWN kid off at the bus stop, and then you zoom around the bus??

Glad they are cracking down.

I got a ticket from one of these. A bus stopped in front of a day care curb. I was three lanes away on the other side of the bus where there is no sidewalk. Since there was no median on this four lane road, I was breaking the law. If there is a median separating the right two lanes and left two lanes, then passing the bus is legal.

Apparently, these bus tickets have clogged the local courts, since the buses are required to run the yellow flashing lights for at least 100 feet(?) before deploying the red blinking stop signs. A lot of bus drivers don't do this.

The video is reviewed four times by different people before a citation is issued. They all check to see if the bus driver turned on the yellow lights. You won’t get a ticket if the bus driver did something wrong. .

That's complete garbage. 54,000 citations and you think each one is reviewed 4 times? There are only 2 people.

Nope. It’s reviewed both by the vendor and by the police department. There are more than 2 people in the police ATEU alone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m confused by this “MCPS/police don’t get any money” sentiment. Doesn’t money collected from tickets go to the county and thus become part of county income, which is used to fund the budget, which includes, among money other things, money for the police and schools?

No.

Ask your County Councilmember why he/she thinks that is OK. The Council just held a hearing on this on Monday and made it clear they don't care where the money goes.

The Council work sessions was focused on safety, in an effort to alert residents of the program and the law. Many are ignorant. It wasn’t about money. That worksession will be on September.

The company outfitted all the buses up front without payment. In exchange for all camera ticket revenue until the equipment is paid for. Then the revenue gets split. The split has not been determined yet.

People are paying the fines. I have no idea where that rumor is coming from. If you pay the citation directly, right now, the company gets it. If you contest the ticket in court, the State gets it. After the contract has been modified to split revenues, county revenue will be used for pedestrian safety initiatives, just like speed and red light camera revenues are.


It’s not clogging up the courts. There is a separate administrative docket for all automated traffic enforcement citations.

The reviewers give the drivers the benefit of the doubt, and in about one quarter of the cases, no citation is issued. Both the vendor and several levels of police review the video.

Good try but you are blowing smoke.

The Council meeting was to cover up, not alert. The Council knows the problems with this scheme. There is no September meeting scheduled.
Fines are not being paid. It's not a rumor, it's a fact. The money is not there. If you know so much, why don't you explain where all the money is, since it is missing.
Let's see your documentation.

The company MCPS contracted with doesn't even exist anymore and they haven't paid their taxes.
The Police only have a couple of people to handle these citations, they don't have several layers. You think the Police are spending $2 million to make money for a company that is defunct?

Courts didn't have a docket for these citations before and so yes, the addition of this citation scheme is clogging up District Court.

Now go find the fine money, $14 million is missing.

You are the one making off-the-wall accusations with no basis in fact. Everything I wrote is in the public record, including the latest OIG report on the program.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FANTASTIC!

People drive around buses All.The.Time in my Silver Spring neighborhood. Even the parents who drive their kids to the bus stop. I don't understand it! You are dropping your OWN kid off at the bus stop, and then you zoom around the bus??

Glad they are cracking down.

I got a ticket from one of these. A bus stopped in front of a day care curb. I was three lanes away on the other side of the bus where there is no sidewalk. Since there was no median on this four lane road, I was breaking the law. If there is a median separating the right two lanes and left two lanes, then passing the bus is legal.

Apparently, these bus tickets have clogged the local courts, since the buses are required to run the yellow flashing lights for at least 100 feet(?) before deploying the red blinking stop signs. A lot of bus drivers don't do this.

The video is reviewed four times by different people before a citation is issued. They all check to see if the bus driver turned on the yellow lights. You won’t get a ticket if the bus driver did something wrong. .

Wrong. Same people supposedly review the video twice. They can't check distance on when yellow lights were activated. These cameras do not show distance. They are not calibrated for that level of review. You will get a citation if the bus driver did something wrong. It's already been happening.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m confused by this “MCPS/police don’t get any money” sentiment. Doesn’t money collected from tickets go to the county and thus become part of county income, which is used to fund the budget, which includes, among money other things, money for the police and schools?

No.

Ask your County Councilmember why he/she thinks that is OK. The Council just held a hearing on this on Monday and made it clear they don't care where the money goes.

The Council work sessions was focused on safety, in an effort to alert residents of the program and the law. Many are ignorant. It wasn’t about money. That worksession will be on September.

The company outfitted all the buses up front without payment. In exchange for all camera ticket revenue until the equipment is paid for. Then the revenue gets split. The split has not been determined yet.

People are paying the fines. I have no idea where that rumor is coming from. If you pay the citation directly, right now, the company gets it. If you contest the ticket in court, the State gets it. After the contract has been modified to split revenues, county revenue will be used for pedestrian safety initiatives, just like speed and red light camera revenues are.


It’s not clogging up the courts. There is a separate administrative docket for all automated traffic enforcement citations.

The reviewers give the drivers the benefit of the doubt, and in about one quarter of the cases, no citation is issued. Both the vendor and several levels of police review the video.

Good try but you are blowing smoke.

The Council meeting was to cover up, not alert. The Council knows the problems with this scheme. There is no September meeting scheduled.
Fines are not being paid. It's not a rumor, it's a fact. The money is not there. If you know so much, why don't you explain where all the money is, since it is missing.
Let's see your documentation.

The company MCPS contracted with doesn't even exist anymore and they haven't paid their taxes.
The Police only have a couple of people to handle these citations, they don't have several layers. You think the Police are spending $2 million to make money for a company that is defunct?

Courts didn't have a docket for these citations before and so yes, the addition of this citation scheme is clogging up District Court.

Now go find the fine money, $14 million is missing.

1st PP: This was a plausible answer. Thank you.

2nd PP, lay off the sativa.

Plausible but not true. MCPS has to report the money collected and they have only collected 37% of the fines. 63% of the cars sent citations aren't paying up.

Lay off the cover up. The Council is already working hard on that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m confused by this “MCPS/police don’t get any money” sentiment. Doesn’t money collected from tickets go to the county and thus become part of county income, which is used to fund the budget, which includes, among money other things, money for the police and schools?

No.

Ask your County Councilmember why he/she thinks that is OK. The Council just held a hearing on this on Monday and made it clear they don't care where the money goes.

The Council work sessions was focused on safety, in an effort to alert residents of the program and the law. Many are ignorant. It wasn’t about money. That worksession will be on September.

The company outfitted all the buses up front without payment. In exchange for all camera ticket revenue until the equipment is paid for. Then the revenue gets split. The split has not been determined yet.

People are paying the fines. I have no idea where that rumor is coming from. If you pay the citation directly, right now, the company gets it. If you contest the ticket in court, the State gets it. After the contract has been modified to split revenues, county revenue will be used for pedestrian safety initiatives, just like speed and red light camera revenues are.


It’s not clogging up the courts. There is a separate administrative docket for all automated traffic enforcement citations.

The reviewers give the drivers the benefit of the doubt, and in about one quarter of the cases, no citation is issued. Both the vendor and several levels of police review the video.

Good try but you are blowing smoke.

The Council meeting was to cover up, not alert. The Council knows the problems with this scheme. There is no September meeting scheduled.
Fines are not being paid. It's not a rumor, it's a fact. The money is not there. If you know so much, why don't you explain where all the money is, since it is missing.
Let's see your documentation.

The company MCPS contracted with doesn't even exist anymore and they haven't paid their taxes.
The Police only have a couple of people to handle these citations, they don't have several layers. You think the Police are spending $2 million to make money for a company that is defunct?

Courts didn't have a docket for these citations before and so yes, the addition of this citation scheme is clogging up District Court.

Now go find the fine money, $14 million is missing.

You are the one making off-the-wall accusations with no basis in fact. Everything I wrote is in the public record, including the latest OIG report on the program.

What public record are you reading? The report doesn't detail the collection of fines. No September meeting is scheduled. Read the report before you post drivel. If you had read it you would know it says there is no indication that the county will ever get a penny from this scheme.

[Anonymous]

People are mentioning a report but no one has linked anything in their response. I’d like to read the report so that I can email my local council member. If these citations are issued then the council needs to find a way that some of the money is allocated towards the schools.