Drivers were hit with more than 75,000 summonses for illegally passing buses in Suffolk last year, a 13% drop from 2024

At a news conference bolstering safe driving around school buses in Suffolk, officials disclosed that about 75,000 summonses were issued to drivers illegally passing a school bus in 2025, a 13% drop from the year before.

The data, which is the most recent, was mentioned at a news conference by Suffolk County Executive Edward P. Romaine announcing a weeklong initiative, now underway, called Operation Safe Stop to remind drivers of the dangers of illegally passing a stopped school bus with its red lights flashing. 

Romaine was flanked by legislators, Police Commissioner Kevin Catalina, students from a Patchogue-Medford middle school and transportation officials for the announcement. 

Catalina said officers have been "aggressively enforcing" bus violations since Monday and called it a "zero-tolerance effort."

Operation Safe Stop is an annual event that began in 1995 in other parts of the state.

In 2024, the county issued about 83,000 summonses for illegally passing a school bus with its light flashing and the figure declined last year to about 75,000, according to Romaine, citing an annual report released in June. Numbers for this year were not available. 

"The number is still way too high," said Maurita Coleman Simpson, a member of the New York Association for Pupil Transportation, and the transportation director for the Half Hollow Hills school district.

Those summonses come from Suffolk County's school bus camera program that began in 2021. Officials said most buses are now equipped with them. Catalina said there's a difference between the bus camera summonses, issued to the registered owner of the vehicle, and a ticket issued by an officer to a driver. Those tickets carry a fine, points on a license and potentially jail time, he said.

In 2025, Suffolk officers issued 42 tickets for passing a stopped school bus. This year, there have been 29 tickets issued directly by officers, according to the department's press office.

Catalina said he did not know of any student injuries in the past year due to a driver illegally passing a stopped school bus. A state report in 2024 analyzed school bus accidents from 1960-2023 and found there were 116 fatalities during that time in New York, with a passing motorist responsible for 24% of the deaths. It's unclear how many were in Suffolk County.

Officials said drivers need to be alert of school buses even when driving in the opposite direction of a divided highway or a road with a median, according to state law.

"There's no exception," said Romaine. "The problem is not everyone understands that and people are reluctant to stop because if they stop, they're afraid they're going to get tail-ended."

A Newsday investigation in 2024 found 70% of of summonses in 2023 were issued on streets that students don't cross when getting on or off the bus.

Patchogue-Medford schools Superintendent Patrick Harrigan said the problem areas in his district are along Route 112 and Woodside Avenue.

By Joe Werkmeister

joe.werkmeister@newsday.com

Joe Werkmeister joined Newsday in 2022 and covers Suffolk County government and politics. He is a graduate of St. Bonaventure University and previously worked as the editor of two North Fork community newspapers.

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