On Tuesday, March 12, at 1:30 p.m. the Public Safety and Security Committee will hold a public hearing on legislation that would give municipalities the option of adopting monitoring systems to detect motorists who illegally pass a stopped school bus and issue offending drivers a $250 fine. 

Unsafe driving near school buses represents a danger to students and has been a pressing concern for the panel’s co-chair, Sen. Herron Keyon Gaston, D-Bridgeport, following the city of Bridgeport’s release of data indicating that nearly 10,000 drivers had been recorded illegally passing stopped school buses in the first six months of this academic year. 

The committee will hear testimony on SB 420, which would allow towns and cities to pass an ordinance authorizing the use of a digital video school bus violation detection monitoring system and collect fines from drivers found to be illegally passing school buses. 

The public hearing is set to begin at 1:30 p.m. and will be held in room 1B of the Legislative Office Building.