A stop-arm camera mounted on a Duval County Public Schools bus captured a car swerving into the oncoming lane to illegally pass the vehicle while its stop arm was extended and red lights were flashing, coming within a couple of feet of a child on West 4th Street in Jacksonville. Several children had run across the street around the front of the bus when the car's momentum carried it to a stop exactly where one of the children had been standing seconds earlier.
The footage, released by Duval County Public Schools as a warning to drivers, shows the driver hitting the brakes only after entering the oncoming lane, according to News4JAX. Two other children rushed across the street as the near-miss unfolded. DCPS shared the video on Facebook, warning that “when a school bus stops, you stop,” and cautioning that disobeying bus stop arms can result in consequences beyond earning a citation.
A Warning Just Days Into the New School Year
The district urged drivers to slow down, pay attention and always stop for students, adding that stopping for students is not optional. The warning lands as DCPS says it has issued nearly 4,000 stop-arm camera citations since enforcement began, a tally that includes the roughly 3,197 citations approved in May alone under the district's AI-powered camera program, which Hoodline previously reported covers more than 900 buses serving over 30,000 daily student riders through a no-upfront-cost deal with vendor BusPatrol America.
Those May citations, each carrying a $225 civil fine, added up to roughly $719,000 in a single month, while school police rejected more than 800 potential violations that didn't hold up under review, per the same account from News4JAX. During the program's earlier warning phase, from April 1 to April 21, the cameras captured 803 potential violations, of which police approved 609 warning letters and rejected 194, according to Action News Jax.
Where Drivers Keep Getting Caught
Blanding Boulevard emerged as the county's top stop-arm violation hotspot in May with 89 citations, followed by Merrill Road with 35, West Beaver Street with 33 and U.S. Highway 90 with 32, the station's report shows. Police noted that most citations went to vehicles traveling in the opposite direction of the stopped bus — exactly the scenario captured on West 4th Street.
Under Florida Statute § 316.172, drivers moving in either direction must stop when a school bus extends its stop arm with flashing red lights, according to the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. The only exception applies when opposing lanes are separated by an unpaved median at least five feet wide or a raised physical barrier; painted lines or flush asphalt medians don't relieve oncoming drivers of the duty to stop.
Civil Fines Versus Criminal Consequences
The $225 civil camera citation carries no license points, a lighter penalty than an officer-issued judicial ticket, which starts at $265 — or $465 if a driver passes on the side where children enter or exit — plus four license points and a mandatory driver improvement course, per the state agency. If an illegal bus pass causes serious injury or death, Florida's Cameron Mayhew Act, enacted in 2017 and named for a student killed while walking to his bus in 2016, imposes a $1,500 fine, a minimum one-year license suspension, six points and 120 hours of trauma center community service.
The scale of the problem extends well beyond Jacksonville. A 2025 single-day statewide observation survey by the Florida Department of Education recorded more than 8,000 illegal school bus passings across Florida roads, according to Duval County Public Schools, with state data indicating Florida also leads the nation in vehicles illegally passing buses on the right side.
Deterrence Data and Legal Scrutiny Elsewhere
National data gathered by vendor BusPatrol suggests that between 90% and 95% of drivers who receive a first stop-arm camera citation don't commit a second violation, though Duval County police officials have said it's still too early to measure multi-year local re-offense rates locally, per News4JAX. Automated bus camera programs have drawn legal pushback elsewhere in the state, including a 2026 class-action lawsuit in Hillsborough County over appeal difficulties and the temporary suspension of Miami-Dade County's program following improper citations, as reported by First Coast News. Duval police have emphasized that sworn officers manually review all footage before issuing citations.
The West 4th Street video adds to a string of Duval County school bus safety concerns this year, following Hoodline's coverage of a diabetic boy left behind on a Southside bus and a lawsuit over a bus assault at Stanton College Preparatory School. For now, DCPS says the message to drivers remains simple: stop when the arm goes out, no exceptions.
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