Hearing officer Josh Galperin, reviewing camera footage.
Tyreese Brown showed up to the municipal office building at 200 Orange St. on Friday to contest a $250 fine he had received after a school bus-mounted camera caught him driving past a parked school bus on Sherman Parkway.
A review of that footage revealed that a Hillhouse High School staffer who was directing traffic had waved him on.
Volunteer hearing officer Joshua Galperin wound up waiving Brown’s fine entirely.
It was the second day of school bus camera-appeal hearings, and drivers who had been caught by automatic-enforcement cameras and received $250 civil citations in the mail for passing stopped school buses were making the case for their fine to be waived.
Citations began going out to drivers in March, after the city partnered with camera operator BusPatrol and school bus company First Student to install automatic-enforcement cameras on the city’s 344 buses to catch drivers who illegally pass stopped school buses. The cameras begin recording when the bus flashes its yellow warning lights and continues until the bus retracts its stop sign and drives on.
On the first day of hearings, last Thursday, city Transportation, Traffic & Parking (TT&P) Executive Director Haley Simpson said that, of the 25 people scheduled, only 13 showed up.
On Friday, which was Galperin’s first day as a hearing officer, there were a total of 23 people on his docket. A handful of people didn’t show up to their hearings.
Galperin, a professor at the Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University, sat alongside Simpson as appellants were brought individually into the hearing room to make their case.
Some drivers weren’t from New Haven, hailing from towns and cities like Hamden and Bridgeport. Some were confused about when, exactly, they’re supposed to stop for the bus, especially if they were already passing as the bus put out its stop sign and flashed its red lights. Some citations dated back to March. (Appeal hearings were scheduled to begin in July but were delayed to September.)
“This Is Why There Are Humans In The System”
Tyreese Brown was successful in his appeal at 200 Orange St. on Friday.
Simpson pulled up camera footage on a large screen, so that Brown and Galperin could review the supposed violation together. The footage showed that he passed a school bus — but only after a Hillhouse High School staffer directing traffic told him to go ahead.
It was an easy waiver for Galperin.
“I’ve been driving for a long time,” Brown said. This was his first violation, he said. Next time someone tries to tell him to pass a school bus, he said, “I ain’t going!”
Matthew Boyhen was successful in his appeal, too. Footage showed that he drove past a stopped school bus in Westville. He stopped only after he had passed, which would typically be a violation. But Simpson pulled up footage from another angle, which showed that there was another stopped school bus immediately in front of that bus, which Boyhen stopped for.
“That’s a school,” he explained. Buses line up outside of it, even if kids aren’t getting off. He had stopped for one, even though he had mistakenly passed the one behind it.
To Galperin, that was a successful appeal. “This is why there are humans in the system,” he said, even if the camera sometimes makes mistakes.
Teacher Lisa Bergmann also had her fine waived, after footage showed her perpendicular to a stopped bus at a traffic light, where she turned left and passed the bus. No kids were crossing the street.
“I couldn’t see that stop sign turning out,” she said. “If I had been paying more attention, I probably would have seen the lights flashing in front.”
“I’m gonna waive this because the turning left is tricky,” Galperin said. He told Bergmann to ignore the street lights in the future and focus on the bus lights. “Someone’s gonna honk,” he acknowledged.
Many appellants were confused about when they’re supposed to stop — when the bus puts out its stop sign, or when it flashes its warning lights beforehand? What if those drivers don’t feel they have time to hit the brakes?
“I’m not a reckless guy,” said Joshua Jacobs. “Look at my driving record.”
A school bus’s stop sign came out as Jacobs drove by. Jacobs said he felt that there hadn’t been enough time to stop.
Galperin pointed out that the bus flashes yellow warning lights, which signals that drivers should stop before the stop sign is released.
Jacobs said he hadn’t had time to stop. “When I was going past, that’s when I realized.”
Galperin acknowledged it was close as the stop sign jutted out. He said that it was still a violation and that Jacobs should stop when the lights turn on. He reduced the fine to $125. Jacobs, like all appellants who lose their appeals, has a month to pay.
Jacobs said he was still “a little disappointed” after the decision.
Because these are civil violations, the citations don’t go on drivers’ records or add points to their license. “That’s what I was worried about,” he said. He didn’t want his insurance rates to go up.
“I feel like it was coming out as I passed,” he said. “But I’m not gonna sit there and argue.”
Another less successful appellant, Alphus Cobb, also passed a bus because he said he didn’t have time to stop, after the car in front of him went, too. “From my position, after the black car went, I’m already right next to [the bus],” he said. “I’m already doing 25 miles per hour.”
Galperin pointed out that the bus had been flashing yellow lights for seven seconds. “You should’ve been slowing down,” he said.
“I was looking at the black car,” Cobb said. He had hit his brakes to stop but said he was already passing. “I didn’t want to just jam on the brakes,” as there were cars behind him.
“I’m gonna cut it in half,” Galperin said. “But this is a violation.”
Cobb was with his dad, who is a co-owner of the car.
“Let me put it in my calendar,” his dad said about the fine’s due date. “I’m warning you.”
Gerald Coppola had his fine waived, too, after he passed a bus on Long Wharf Drive in front of the Canal Dock Boathouse. Coppola had stopped at first, but drove on after the bus had been stopped for at least two or three minutes.
“I’ve been driving for 61 years. I’ve never had a violation. Maybe one parking ticket,” he said. “I got grandchildren who take the bus.”
Coppola said he had eventually passed the bus after being stopped for a while because he and his wife were driving to the doctor for a serious appointment. He had been anxious. “I was waiting for a while,” he said. “No one was getting on or off.” He said he thought maybe the driver had forgotten their stop sign was out and was sitting on their phone.
Galperin looked at another angle, which showed that, after minutes had passed, students did get off the bus. “It’s clear to me they’re not crossing the street, but there are kids there,” he said. Galperin waived the citation but said he wouldn’t if it happened again.
“I Didn’t Have Time To Stop” Won’t Work Forever…
Reflecting on his first day of hearings, Galperin said that he had reduced so many fines because the process and technology are new, “and people haven’t yet figured out the ropes and aren’t used to them.”
“That’s not an excuse,” he added, “but it does necessitate adjustment.”
He said that many of the violations were close calls, rather than blatant disregard for the kids or buses. “I don’t think I’m going to remain as sympathetic as time goes on to the ‘I didn’t have time to stop’ argument,” he said. “That usually means you’re going too fast.”
Still, he said he’d rather go a little easier on people in the beginning than too hard, as he figures out the whole swath of violations.
Coppola and Galperin look at the footage together.