Town hall exposes growing backlash to Pennsylvania school bus camera law

ALLENTOWN, Pa. — A man who identified himself as a Pennsylvania state trooper delivered one of the sharpest critiques of the state's automated school bus camera law Tuesday night during a telephone town hall.

The man told state Sen. Jarrett Coleman, R-Bucks/Lehigh, who held the town hall, that many citations issued under the program should not stand.

The town hall discussion focused on complaints about Pennsylvania’s automated enforcement program, which lets third-party vendors issue $300 civil penalties to drivers who pass stopped school buses with red lights and stop arms deployed.

The trooper, who identified himself as Jordan from Bucks County, said he personally experienced what he believes is a core failure of the system: school bus stop arms deploying with little warning, leaving drivers no reasonable opportunity to stop.

“I had a dash cam in my [unmarked] car,” Jordan said. “The bus basically came to a complete stop and dropped the arm out as I was going by.

"The Pennsylvania Vehicle Code requires the lights to be activated 150 to 300 feet before the stop. That didn’t happen.”

Jordan said he later contacted the bus company to file a complaint and argued that automated enforcement systems cannot fairly issue citations when bus drivers fail to meet the legal requirements governing warning signals.

“I've been contacted by school bus drivers who asked me to follow them on their route,” he said.

“If the drivers don't know how they’re supposed to use the signals and the distances and everything else, I firmly believe all these tickets should be getting thrown out.”

Coleman said at least 25 people were still on the line waiting to ask questions when the call ended.

‘Don’t believe the system is working as intended’

Coleman repeatedly acknowledged that while the law was intended to improve safety for children, its implementation has raised serious concerns.

“In good conscience, I don’t believe the system is working as it’s intended,” Coleman said.

“When you see nearly half of appealed tickets being overturned, it calls the integrity of the system into question.”

Throughout the hour-long call, residents from Bucks, Lehigh and surrounding counties beyond Coleman's district described receiving citations they said were issued despite no children being present, buses being parked curbside when stop arms were deployed, or warning lights activating too late for drivers to stop safely.

Rebecca from Sellersville said she received a citation after passing a bus that never deployed its stop arm.

“We were going down a road and there was a school bus coming, and he had his yellow lights on," she said. "So we slowed down, and we stopped, and he just kept the yellow lights on, never put the stop sign out.

“So finally, I said to my husband, ‘I guess he's not letting someone out.’ So we passed him, and got a citation in the mail that had pictures, no video, but it had pictures.

“There was no picture of the arm or the lights, just a picture of our car passing the bus. It came from an out-of-state company. We paid it because we didn’t want trouble.”

Matthew from Allentown said he has two citations under appeal — one filed 10 months ago and another two months ago — with no hearing dates scheduled.

“This AI-enabled technology is set up to try and catch as many people as possible,” Matthew said. He said footage from his citations showed yellow lights still flashing as the vehicle passed the bus.

Under state law, flashing yellow lights require drivers to slow down and be prepared to stop, but lets them cautiously pass if they are already in motion.

Like Matthew, others on the call said sometimes stopping becomes a "split-second decision" that could have catastrophic consequences in heavy traffic, such as causing a chain-reaction crash.

‘The intent of the law was good’

Coleman said the purpose of the town hall was not questioning whether drivers have a duty to stop for school buses.

“The intent [of the law] was good," he said. "The intent is to get people to stop blowing through the reds and the stop arms."

He cited data showing PennDOT hearing officers overturned 42% of appealed citations in 2024.

“PennDOT is realizing that … a condition wasn't met," Coleman said. "For example, there were no kids on the bus. We heard from someone who got a ticket and there weren't even kids on the bus.

“We've been told of… a bus on the side of the road, parked at a stop sign with the red arm out, no kids on the bus. It was giving tickets out.

"That's a concern that the system itself is not working as it should.”

Several callers criticized the $300 fine as excessive, particularly for seniors and residents on fixed incomes.

“That’s someone’s car payment,” said Timothy from Allentown, who said his citation was triggered after passing a school bus on a Friday at 6 p.m.

“There were no kids. Nothing was happening,” he said, describing a situation in which he said he stopped as required by law but the bus remained idle.

Coleman said one of the most persistent problems raised during the call was the lengthy wait for appeals to be heard.

“It would be really nice if folks could get their appeals heard within a certain amount of time,” he said. “You need to have due process.”

Some drivers have waited more than a year for a hearing, a backlog that developed after appeals were moved from district judges to PennDOT hearing officers in 2023.

PennDOT has since hired additional staff to help address the delays, and said it would initiate a written hearing option this month.

During a live poll conducted during the call, 66% of participants said appeals should be heard within 30 to 60 days.

“If they can’t get the appeal heard within 90 days, it should get dropped,” said Harry from Hilltown.

‘Legal conditions aren’t met’

Another recurring concern was the role of private, for-profit companies in issuing citations and collecting fines.

Several callers questioned whether revenue generation, rather than safety, is driving the program.

“Is this about bus safety, or is it about making a company a lot of money?” Coleman asked.

Coleman said he has heard similar frustrations from law enforcement officers.

"I’ve heard from police officers who are upset with the program because they know these cameras are triggering citations where all the legal conditions aren’t met,” he said.

He praised Salisbury Township Police Department and its officers for their "thoughtful consideration" applied to each alleged infraction, with officers previously stating their goal was to have "good violations."

The department highlights serious infractions on its Facebook page, and as of Jan. 6 had 163 violations.

"They actually go through every one of these and they're saying, 'Oh, that's not really an infraction,' or 'The bar wasn't out fully' or 'The yellows haven't been on long enough,'" Coleman said. "That takes work.

"But I mean, shout out to Salisbury Township Police Department. I mean, doing a phenomenal job giving people a fair shake there."

But he also criticized the enforcement program overall for its lack of transparency for residents, including the absence of Spanish-language instructions on citation notices in communities such as Allentown.

And he questioned why school districts — rather than vendors — bear part of the cost of appeals.

“If the equipment is so good and they want to stand by it, the company should pay the appeal,” Coleman said.

Coleman said he plans to pursue legislation to amend the law, including changes to evidence standards, appeal timelines and vendor accountability.

“Everyone agrees we need to protect kids,” he said. “The question is whether this system, as it exists right now, actually does that fairly.”