BALTIMORE – School officially starts again.
Traffic usually decreases when school is not in session.
With the start of the new school year, a further increase in traffic volume is expected.
Carroll County raises alarm about driving habits that endanger student safety.
On Friday, Carroll County Public Schools and the Sheriff’s Office released a shocking number of violations of school bus surveillance cameras.
Last school year, 5,084 tickets were issued to drivers who illegally overtook a school bus that was stopped with its red flashing light on.
Most violations (631) occurred in November 2023, most of them occurring between 2 and 4 p.m.
All 300 Carroll County Public Schools buses are equipped with automatic cameras that photograph violations.
Howard County’s school buses are also equipped with cameras. Last school year, Howard County issued 9,554 tickets for school bus violations, nearly twice as many as Carroll County.
Maryland state law requires that motorists approaching a stopped school bus with a flashing red light from any direction must stop at least 20 feet away until the bus has resumed full speed, except on segregated highways.
It is estimated that school buses in the United States are overhauled more than 43 million times each year.
