Change To Wyoming School Bus Passing Law Considered
A bill that would allow the registered owners of cars to be fined if their vehicle passes a parked school bus even if the bus camera doesn't identify them as the driver is being considered in the Wyoming Senate.
Current state law only allows people to be fined for passing a school bus if they can be identified as the driver of a vehicle that does so, regardless of who the registered owner of the vehicle is. But some law enforcement officials say that is a problem because the bus cameras quite often don't pick up a clear enough image of the person behind the wheel to issue any kind of citation.
So Senate File 80, sponsored by Senator Affie Ellis [R-Cheyenne], would allow the registered owner of the vehicle, based on the license plate number, to be cited. That would make issuing citations much easier because the cameras are much more likely to pick up a usable image of the license plate then they are of the person behind the wheel.
Registered vehicle owners could fight a citation by proving they were not driving the car at the time and hadn't given the person behind the wheel permission to use the vehicle. They could also avoid a fine if they had sold the vehicle prior to the incident.
The citations would not count as a moving violation towards a possible driver's license suspension.
The bill is slated for third and final reading in the Wyoming Senate on Tuesday. if approved, it will move onto the state House for further consideration.