New Bill Protects ‘Safety of School Children’ Across New York

Police will be patrolling New York roads to help protect the safety of children.

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On Friday, Gov. Kathy Hochul signed legislation S.4661/A.7330 which provides for the transfer of a portion of fines issued for illegally passing a school bus to the comprehensive school bus driver safety training program for the study and promotion of issues involving school bus safety, establishing a school bus motorist education fund.

Hochul believes this bill will protect the "safety of school children."

This legislation aims to discourage motorists from illegally passing stopped school buses thus increasing safety for school children, officials say.

Hochul stated:

Keeping our children safe is priority number one for my administration and we are taking steps on every front to ensure we do just that. Drivers should know better than to pass a stopped school bus, but we see this issue time and time again. I am proud to sign this legislation that boosts training for school bus drivers and further protects children traveling to and from school.

This legislation calls for the design and implementation of a public education program to educate motorists on the dangers of passing a school bus and to promote school bus safety. S.4661/A.7330 also creates a School Bus Motorist Education Fund, and directs surcharges imposed for passing a stopped school bus be paid into this fund for use in providing grants for the study of the issue, the development of proposals to reduce the number of violations, and to promote school bus safety, as well as to fund the aforementioned public education program.

Senator Kevin Parker said:

I applaud Governor Hochul for putting students first! The safety of our students is a priority from the moment they enter the school bus to commute to school. This law will work to not only discourage motorists from illegally passing stopped school buses, but takes a further approach to fund training for our drivers who get our children to and from school every day.

Assemblymember William Magnarelli added:

The illegal passing of school buses continues to be a serious problem in New York State. This legislation will work in conjunction with the new law allowing for photo enforcement of illegal passing to help educate drivers against this dangerous behavior.

While no place in the Hudson Valley made the list, the region has received a ton of praise recently.