MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla – Miami-Dade County announced the suspension of its school bus camera citation program after officials discovered errors in the amounts listed on traffic tickets issued by the vendor, BusPatrol America.
According to News 6 partner WPLG, Miami-Dade Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz made the announcement Thursday alongside Miami-Dade Clerk of Courts Juan Fernandez-Barquin and Chief Judge Nushin Sayfie.
“The integrity of how we enforce our laws must never be undermined,” Cordero-Stutz said.
The program, launched last year in partnership with Miami-Dade Public Schools and BusPatrol, aimed to catch drivers illegally passing stopped school buses using automated cameras.
But officials say some citations sent to drivers listed incorrect penalty amounts, causing confusion and the potential for license suspensions.
“Effective immediately, we are suspending the BusPatrol citation program, and no additional citations will be issued under this program from today forward,” Cordero-Stutz said.
The issue centers on two types of notices: NOVs, or Notices of Violation, and UTCs, or Uniform Traffic Citations.
If a driver ignored the $225 NOV, they were issued a UTC. But according to Fernandez-Barquin, the UTCs incorrectly listed the fine as $225, when it should have been $344.
In March, News 6 reported that a Volusia County man was issued a $225 fine when someone riding a scooter was caught on camera illegally passing a stopped school bus in Miami Beach.
Despite not visiting Miami-Dade County recently, Ray Shover received a violation notice in the mail stating that the scooter’s license plate matched the tag number of a motorcycle registered in his name.
