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Chicopee Today
By the People, for the People
Chicopee to Launch School Bus Stop-Arm Safety Program
City partners with BusPatrol to deploy AI-powered cameras to catch drivers who illegally pass stopped school buses.
Published on Feb. 21, 2026
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Chicopee, Massachusetts will be the first municipality in the state to implement a citywide school bus stop-arm safety program using technology from BusPatrol. The program, enabled by a 2025 state law, will use AI-powered cameras mounted on school buses to detect and record vehicles that fail to stop when a bus's stop sign is extended, with the footage then submitted to local law enforcement for review and potential fines.
Why it matters
Illegal passing of stopped school buses is a serious safety issue, putting children at risk as they board or exit the vehicles. Chicopee's new program aims to crack down on this dangerous behavior and improve safety for students, leveraging the latest camera and AI technology to automate enforcement.
The details
Under the new program, BusPatrol's AI-powered stop-arm cameras will be installed on Chicopee's school buses. The system will record high-definition video from multiple angles when a vehicle illegally passes a stopped bus, with the footage then sent to local police for review and potential citation of the driver. The enforcement program will be funded through the violator-paid fines, with no upfront costs to the city or taxpayers.
- In January 2025, Gov. Maura Healey signed a bill allowing cities and towns in Massachusetts to install monitoring technology on school buses.
- A BusPatrol pilot program in Peabody found that a school bus was illegally passed by another vehicle more than three times per day on average.
- Chicopee officials will hold a press conference on Wednesday, February 26, 2026 to announce and demonstrate the new school bus safety program.
The players
John Vieau
The mayor of Chicopee, Massachusetts.
Marcus Ware
The superintendent of Chicopee Public Schools.
BusPatrol
A technology company providing the AI-powered stop-arm camera system for Chicopee's new school bus safety program.
What they’re saying
“We must not let individuals continue to damage private property in San Francisco.”
— Robert Jenkins, San Francisco resident (San Francisco Chronicle)
What’s next
The judge in the case will decide on Tuesday whether or not to allow Walker Reed Quinn out on bail.
The takeaway
Chicopee's new school bus safety program, powered by BusPatrol's AI-enabled cameras, represents a proactive approach to addressing the dangerous issue of drivers illegally passing stopped school buses. By automating enforcement, the city aims to improve student safety and change driver behavior through the threat of fines.
