GREECE, N.Y. – Scott Janowski was caught on camera driving by a school bus with its red lights flashing in Greece last May. He got a hefty fine but could not get his day in court.

“And by the time I looked back, this car had blacked out windows and stuff and he had passed the stopped school bus,” said Scott Janowski, who received the school bus ticket.

Janowski was driving his wife’s minivan. He says he had to avoid a landscaping truck and then the SUV in front of him blocked his view of the bus.

“By the time I see the school bus I’m running at 35 miles per hour, there’s no way I could stop for the school bus,” Janowski said.

Berkeley Brean, News10NBC: “And that’s the argument you’d like to make in front of a judge?”

“That’s correct,” he said. “All I want here is a fair chance to get in front of a judge to tell him my side of the story.”

The system tickets the owner of the car, not the driver. So when Janowski signed it requesting a court hearing, the operator, called Bus-Patrol, denied it. Janowski says he got his wife, who was in the hospital at the time, to sign a new copy and mailed it in.

Scott Janowski: “About another three weeks after that I got a denial because it was late.”

With the late fee, Janowski’s fine was $275. Here’s the process: Bus Patrol gathers the video and sends it to a team in Monroe County which determines whether a ticket is warranted. If it is, Bus Patrol mails the ticket to the owner. It lets you pay the fine online, but if you want to appeal, you have to do it by mail.

If you get a ticket from a police officer anywhere in our area your ticket will have a specific date for you to be in court.

But these camera-generated tickets don’t. The system makes the owner of the car use the mail to request a hearing and, as in Janowski’s case, if the owner makes a mistake or doesn’t meet a 30 day deadline, that hearing can be denied.

News10NBC Chief Investigative Reporter Berkeley Brean spoke to a vice president at Bus Patrol who declined an offer to talk on Zoom. He said they’ve been in contact with Janowski since May and believes New York law requires the process be done by mail. The cameras have been on school buses in Monroe County since 2023.

Berkeley Brean: “Are they effective?”

David Christopher, Executive Director of the New York Association for Pupil Transportation, a group that campaigned for the cameras, says since the cameras started, fewer people are driving by school buses.

David Christopher: “More importantly, second-time passings are significantly lower. Recidivism in other words. People don’t do it twice.”

In an amazing act of timing, the day before Brean interviewed Janowski, he was called by Bus Patrol to say he’s been granted a court hearing.

Scott Janowski: “All of a sudden. You guys are magical.”

Scott Janowski: “Hopefully I’ll have my opportunity to go to court. I haven’t seen it yet but hopefully it will come and I’ll go to court and be able to plead my case.”

Bus Patrol also waived Janowski’s late fee. Greece Town Court says, when asked, they set aside time to hear school bus camera tickets, but the court says it’s been months since they had one.

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