Bus Ads Remind Drivers to Stop for School Buses
Multimedia campaign included billboards, buses, t-shirts and more
by Amber Larkins, OOH Today
About 50,000 drivers illegally pass stopped school buses each day in New York state. In April, Albany County Executive Daniel P. McCoy announced a media campaign to remind drivers to stop for school buses.
The campaign, which was put on with help from Lamar Advertising and the Capital District Transportation Authority, included messaging on Lamar Transit Buses, mall advertising, billboards, and minor league baseball games.
The campaign’s messaging was simple: “All cars, all directions, must stop. It’s the law.” It included a picture of a school bus stop arm.
The campaign also leveraged swag, including t-shirts and reusable lunch bags, to let people know that when the stop-arm on school buses is extended and the lights are flashing, all cars in all directions must stop.
The county introduced the School Bus Safety Program in 2022. Stop-arm cameras now record drivers who pass illegally, but experts say the numbers have not improved since then.
Since September, when the school year started, nearly 6,000 tickets had been issued as of April, and the county had collected over $410,000 in fines.
“It’s sad that no matter how much we’re pushing back out, this still continues to rise, which is so scary,” McCoy said. “We’ve been trying to be creative with the way we’ve been doing different announcements and getting it out there to the community.”
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