Most drivers who appeal school bus camera...

FLORIDA — Florida's controversial school bus camera program continues to frustrate drivers who say the appeals process offers little hope of challenging their $225 citations, even when they believe they had valid reasons for their actions.

“I felt trapped by this.”

Alicia Clark, an assistant principal at a K-8 school, received two back-to-back citations for passing a school bus with its stop arm deployed. Despite her 34-year clean driving record and her role in education, Clark said the appeals hearing felt predetermined.

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"It didn't make me feel like there was any due process, actually," Clark said. "They let me speak, and then they read me the statute again, and then they said I had to pay it. I felt very trapped with this."

Clark said she thought the administrative law judge would consider her driving history and the context of the situation, but instead, she felt the process was designed for drivers to lose.

Jason Penny faced a similar experience when appealing his citation for passing a school bus on a rural highway. He said he was forced to choose between slamming on his brakes and risking a rear-end collision or continuing past the bus.

"No citizen should have to assume that they're going to a kangaroo court, that there's a foregone conclusion, and it was just a waste of time to even pursue your due process rights," Penny said.

Judge says he lacks discretion when deciding cases:

Judge John Van Laningham, one of three administrative law judges hearing school bus camera appeals for Hillsborough County, acknowledged the state's school bus camera law provides limited flexibility for hearing officers like him, even when drivers may have had reasonable explanations for their actions.

"It doesn't give us any discretion to do anything but uphold the citation or void the citation," Van Laningham said. "It's either supported by the greater weight of the evidence or it's not. There’s no lesser included offense. There's no giving somebody a warning,” he said.

When asked if he felt the law should be expanded to allow him more discretion, Van Laningham said, “That’s really a policy decision that I don’t want to weigh in on.” He explained any policy changes would require legislative action to modify the law.

The school bus camera controversy rolls on:

Florida’s school bus camera program is a partnership between school districts, the local sheriff’s office and a for-profit camera vendor. The program, approved by lawmakers in 2023, launched in a small handful of districts last school year. But it’s faced criticism since its inception.

Many drivers claimed they were being unfairly ticketed.

Then, after we started investigating, we discovered drivers had no way to dispute the $225 citation. We learned the cameras were so hastily rolled out in counties that drivers were being fined without a proper appeals process in place.

This lack of due process was among the reasons Miami-Dade County’s sheriff suspended its school bus cameras in the spring. Over the summer, Polk County also suspended its cameras after we discovered drivers couldn’t challenge their fines until their $225 violation became a pricier uniform traffic citation.

As of mid-October, nearly 300,000 drivers have been issued notice of violations for illegally passing a school bus while its stop-arm is deployed.

Despite all the issues we found, these cameras continue to generate a ton of cash. In just over a year, a total of more than $40 million in paid fines was collected in Miami-Dade and Hillsborough Counties. While a share of the profits is divided among the local sheriff’s office and school district, most of the profits go to the for-profit camera vendor.

Bus Patrol is the for-profit camera vendor for Hillsborough and Miami-Dade Counties. It gets up to 70% of each paid violation, according to contracts.

Nearly 90% of violations are upheld after appeal:

In Hillsborough County, since drivers started being able to appeal their citations in September. Of just over 1100 appeal hearings conducted, nearly 90% have been upheld according to data provided by Bus Patrol.

Though state data on red light camera appeals show a similar rate of upheld violations, drivers remain skeptical that if new camera program prioritizes student safety or revenue generation.

Bus Patrol did not respond to our request for comment.

Is it a cash grab?

But Jason Penny has his own response.

"People talk about these programs being a cash grab," he said. "I didn't want to be that cynical until I had this experience. And it's not the program itself that's the cash grab. I think that it's the hearing and contesting portion, that's the cash grab."

“When it comes right down to it, we have fairly limited authority in terms of what we can do as a remedy,” explained Van Laningham. “Whether that’s good or bad, that’s what we’re given. That’s the statue we’re given.”

"This story was reported on-air by Katie LaGrone and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy."

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