Operation Safe Stop on Wednesday
Law enforcement across New York will be “out in force following yellow school buses and issuing tickets to those drivers who violate the law” on Wednesday, October 21, 2026, during Operation Safe Stop. That is according to the New York Association for Pupil Transportation (NYAPT), in a release published by School Transportation News. NYAPT’s Suffolk County event will be held at 11:00 AM at Saxton Middle School in the Patchogue-Medford School District, the release said.
The day will fall within School Bus Safety Week, October 19–23, 2026. Assembly Resolution K1558, adopted June 2, 2026, memorializes Gov. Kathy Hochul to proclaim that week.
Where Suffolk’s bus cameras record the most tickets
Exhibit B of the Suffolk County Bus Camera Safety Program 2025 Annual Report lists tickets by location for calendar 2025. It uses block-level addresses supplied by the vendor, Bus Patrol America LLC. LIT grouped those tickets by the hamlet named in each address. Hamlet totals are not rates and do not adjust for how many buses or stops serve each hamlet.
The total printed at the end of the exhibit is 76,064 tickets. That is 973 more than the 75,091 violations stated in the report’s narrative section, and the report does not explain the difference.
The 2025 annual report gives these figures for Suffolk’s camera program:
- Buses equipped: 5,574 school buses had cameras on January 31, 2025, and 5,658 had them as of December 31, 2025.
- Notices issued: 72,323 notices of liability.
- Citation outcomes: 51,628 were paid and not contested, 17,652 were not paid and not contested, and 5,544 were not paid and contested.
- Collections: 41,320 citations were paid without a late fee or contest, bringing in $10,330,000.
LIT’s analysis of the report’s revenue-share exhibit shows $7,617,774.47 for the Suffolk County Traffic & Parking Violations Agency in 2025. The lowest month was September, at $238,638.65.
The highest-count locations in Exhibit B are:
| Location (Exhibit B address) | 2025 tickets |
|---|---|
| 600 block of NY-347, Smithtown | 669 |
| 800 block of NY-25, Huntington Station | 634 |
| 600 block of Veterans Memorial Hwy, Hauppauge | 613 |
| 500 block of Veterans Memorial Hwy, Smithtown | 608 |
| 600 block of NY-231, Dix Hills | 376 |
| 300 block of Middle Country Rd, Coram | 361 |
LIT’s analysis found that three of the top four entries sit within half a kilometer of one another on NY-347 and Veterans Memorial Hwy in Smithtown and Hauppauge, by the report’s own coordinates. Those three entries total 669, 613 and 608 tickets, or 1,890 combined.
LIT’s analysis also found:
- 33 locations recorded 200 or more tickets in 2025.
- 6,881 locations recorded a single ticket.
- The 20 highest-count locations together account for 7,078 tickets.
Grouped by hamlet, Exhibit B’s addresses show the most tickets in:
- Brentwood: 4,490
- Huntington Station: 4,131
- Bay Shore: 4,131
- Ronkonkoma: 2,802
- Smithtown: 2,719
- Patchogue: 2,614
- Dix Hills: 2,555
- Central Islip: 2,545
- Amityville: 2,360
- Huntington: 2,280
Police tickets vs. camera notices
LIT queried the New York State DMV’s Traffic Tickets Issued dataset on October 18, 2026. It shows police wrote 142 tickets under VTL 1174, passing a stopped school bus, that were returnable to Nassau and Suffolk courts in 2025. Of those, 67 were in Nassau courts and 75 were in Suffolk courts.
The same dataset shows how the count has changed and when tickets were written:
- By year: 216 tickets in 2023 and 161 in 2024.
- By month in 2025: April was the busiest month with 22, followed by October with 17. July had 4 and August had 3.
The DMV dataset counts only tickets written by police. Camera programs operate under VTL §1174-a and impose monetary liability on the vehicle owner, according to the Suffolk report, so camera notices are a separate count. For other violations, see LIT’s August 2026 traffic tickets report for Nassau and Suffolk courts.
What the law and fines say
NYAPT said state law requires all vehicles to come to a complete stop when approaching a stopped school bus with red lights flashing. Passing such a bus is prohibited “regardless of the direction of travel, even on a multi-lane or divided highway.”
NYAPT listed these penalties for a police ticket:
- First offense: a $250 to $400 fine, five points and up to 30 days in jail.
- Second conviction within three years: a $600 to $750 fine, five points and up to 180 days in jail.
- Three or more convictions: a $750 to $1,500 fine, five points and up to 180 days in jail.
Camera notices work differently, according to the Suffolk County School Bus Safety Program page:
- Who is liable: Tickets go to the registered owner unless the vehicle is proven stolen. An owner who was not driving can request a transfer of liability.
- Fines: Under state law, camera fines begin at $250, NYAPT said. Subsequent violations within 18 months rise by $25 each, up to $300, the county page says.
- Review: Law enforcement reviews each evidence package before a ticket is mailed with a link to video of the violation.
- Paying or contesting: Owners can pay online, by mail or in person, or contest through the jurisdiction’s civil court system.
- Questions: The county lists the Alertbus Customer Contact Center at 1-877-504-7080.
The Suffolk County Comptroller’s Audit Report No. 2023-07, issued June 20, 2024, found:
- Roadway concentration: The top 25 roadways accounted for 30% of captured violations (61,315 of 204,566) but only 5.5% of bus stops with captured violations.
- Signage: The audit recommended fluorescent yellow stop-arm signs instead of older black-and-white ones. As of October 31, 2023, Bus Patrol said signage had been placed at 112 bus stop locations, about 1% of those receiving citations.
- Denied signs: The NYS Transportation Department denied 16 additional signs because of excessive signage nearby.
Nassau’s programs
The Nassau County Traffic & Parking Violations Agency said the county does not run the stop-arm programs itself:
- Who runs them: The towns of Hempstead, North Hempstead and Oyster Bay and the cities of Glen Cove and Long Beach implement and manage the programs.
- Who reviews: Town or city employees decide whether to issue notices.
- County role: The agency only adjudicates contested notices and does not share in or accept fine payments.
- Questions: The agency directs callers to the vendor at 1-877-504-7080.
Senate Bill S9395 is sponsored by Sen. Siela A. Bynoe and was referred to the Senate Transportation Committee on March 9, 2026. Its sponsor memo cites media reports of notices of liability issued in districts that never entered an agreement. The bill would:
- restrict cameras to school districts that have authorized their use;
- bar retroactive penalties; and
- require public annual reports on system results.
What we don’t know yet: how many camera notices Nassau’s town and city programs issued in 2025, and whether S9395 will advance out of committee.
Sources
- New York Association for Pupil Transportation (NYAPT) release, published by School Transportation News
- New York State Assembly Resolution K1558
- Suffolk County Bus Camera Safety Program 2025 Annual Report (Suffolk County Traffic & Parking Violations Agency, data from Bus Patrol America LLC)
- Suffolk County Comptroller, Audit Report No. 2023-07 (issued June 20, 2024)
- Suffolk County School Bus Safety Program page
- Nassau County Traffic & Parking Violations Agency, School Bus Stop Arm Safety Program page
- New York State Senate Bill S9395
- New York State DMV, Traffic Tickets Issued: Four Year Window (data.ny.gov)