Montgomery County’s AI-powered school bus cameras are catching new scrutiny.
Why it matters: A new report raises questions about a hot local topic — whether automated traffic enforcement cameras are improving road safety or the government’s bottom line.
State of play: BusPatrol pitches itself to localities, offering to handle the grunt work of catching bad drivers, while splitting the payoff from the fines with the government.
- When Montgomery County partnered with BusPatrol in 2017, police said violations would decline. But Bloomberg Businessweek reported in a long read last week that violations remain high and the county hasn’t improved road design.
How it works: BusPatrol’s AI-powered cameras capture drivers who fail to stop for a school bus’ stop sign.
- The images are sent to police, who then decide whether a fine is warranted. If so, BusPatrol mails the driver a $250 ticket.
- One of its most prolific sites is in Silver Spring at 1400 East-West Highway, a busy six-lane corridor. Over 11,500 tickets have been issued over the past decade, per Bloomberg.
By the numbers: BusPatrol has issued more than 375,000 tickets and $92 million in fines in MoCo…