WASHINGTON 鈥斅燭he City of Falls Church is resuming its program to cite drivers who illegally pass stopped school buses, which had been on hold for a year, after Virginia鈥檚 General Assembly fixed legal language to clarify how violators will receive citations.
鈥淲e launched this program in October of 2013. 聽We found the program to be very effective,鈥� says Susan Finarelli, public information officer with the City of Falls Church police department.
The program was halted in October 2015 after Virginia Commonwealth鈥檚 Attorney General Mark R. Herring issued an official advisory opinion about the matter.
鈥淎t issue was whether citations of those caught passing the bus could be mailed to the violator, or if they had to be served in person.聽When the bill for this school bus program was signed into law in 2011, it did not specifically include the citation-by-mail provision. So as a result we had to put the program on hold until that was worked out in the legislature,鈥� Finarelli said.
During the time the program was suspended, it was still against the law to pass school buses while stop arms were deployed, but citations in Falls Church haven鈥檛 been issued since Oct. 2, 2015. That changes Monday.
How the program works
Sensors and cameras are mounted outside聽seven of the city’s 17 school buses.
When the stop arms are extended on those buses and lights are flashing, the sensors can detect when vehicles illegally pass stopped school buses.
鈥淚f a vehicle passes the school bus in either direction, a camera will take a photo of the license plate and the vehicle and a ticket will be mailed to that vehicle’s owner.聽The citation is $250,鈥� Finarelli said.
鈥淭he only exception is if there is a divided highway 鈥斅爄f there’s a barrier between you and the opposite direction such as a median strip,鈥� Finarelli said.
She adds that there aren鈥檛 many such roads in Falls Church.
鈥淲e are very residential.聽So most likely if you see a school bus stopped, you need to stop as well.鈥�
Falls Church police will review violation videos before citations are sent by mail.
