New Milford Adds Cameras to Catch Drivers Who Pass Stopped School Buses

New Milford is putting cameras on its school buses to catch drivers who illegally pass them. The town announced a new school bus stop-arm camera enforcement program this week, in partnership with Sitestream, a traffic safety technology company. Cameras installed on buses will identify and document vehicles that pass a bus while its warning lights are flashing and its stop arm is extended.

The goal, according to the announcement, is straightforward: deter illegal passing, raise driver awareness, and protect students during boarding and dismissal, which the program describes as one of the most vulnerable parts of a child's school day. The cameras record the violation; the program is designed to change behavior on roads where children are getting on and off buses.

The news matters beyond New Milford's borders. Brookfield drivers regularly travel through New Milford on Route 7 and surrounding roads, and the same law applies everywhere in Connecticut: when a school bus stops with its red lights flashing and stop arm out, traffic in both directions must stop and wait until the bus moves again, unless the road is divided by a median. The week of the announcement also follows a reminder much closer to home — Brookfield's own school bus crash on Candlewood Lake Road on October 26, in which students aboard a bus sustained minor injuries after another vehicle struck the bus from behind.

New Milford's program is the town's own initiative, and the announcement does not say Brookfield is adopting a similar system. But for any driver, the practical point is the same on either side of the town line: when the stop arm is out, stop.