The town of Hempstead issued over 80,000 tickets worth about $20 million for passing stopped school buses without permission from local school districts, violating state laws. Local officials questioned the legality of these tickets, leading to discussions of possible class-action lawsuits. The Lawrence school district publicly declared the tickets void. The bus camera law allows local governments to issue tickets, but school districts must approve such measures. Despite 270,000 tickets issued, only 24 school districts consented to the program, leaving many tickets potentially unenforceable.
It's baffling to me that tickets would be issued when they know they did not have the authority to do it," Baldwin Union Free School District Superintendent Shari Camhi told Newsday.
The Lawrence school district went so far as to post a letter on its website declaring the tickets "void."
That raises questions about whether the tens of thousands of tickets were wrongly written - and if they were, legal experts told the outlet that it could be the foundation for a class-action lawsuit.
New York has barred drivers from driving past buses picking up or dropping off kids for a long time, and a 2019 law let local governments install cameras and issue tickets.
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