MARIETTA, Ga. — Marietta City Schools (MCS) and American Traffic Solutions (ATS) are collaborating to deploy CrossingGuard, ATS’ technology to help school districts address illegal school bus passing.

In 2011, Georgia passed legislation to permit counties to equip school buses with video cameras to catch drivers who drive by school buses when they stop to pick up or drop off students.

“Thanks to an interagency services agreement between Marietta City Schools and the city of Marietta, we were able to engage in this extremely important safety initiative regarding the transportation of children,” said Dr. Emily Lembeck, MCS superintendent. “We believe, as do many other systems, this will assist in making school bus stops safer as children enter and leave the school bus.”

The CrossingGuard school bus arm safety solution mounts purpose-built cameras on the side of the school bus. When the stop arm is deployed, the camera automatically detects a vehicle illegally passing the stop arm in either direction and captures video of the violation and still images of a vehicle’s license plate. City of Marietta law enforcement reviews the violation video and license plate images prior to issuing a citation.

“ATS will equip 10 additional Marietta City school buses with stop-arm cameras, bringing the total number of buses with stop-arm cameras to 12,” said Mark Lindstrom, MCS director of transportation. "Eventually we plan to have one-third of our bus fleet equipped with this technology to help reduce the number of stop-arm violations across the district. On average, each of our buses experiences one stop-arm violation each and every school day.”

In Georgia, the penalty for a stop-arm violation will warrant the vehicle’s owner a $300 fine for the first offense, a $750 fine for the second, and a third violation in a five-year period will result in a $1,000 fine.

“We are excited about this collaboration between the Marietta Police Department, Marietta City Schools and American Traffic Solutions,” Marietta Police Chief Dan Flynn said. “This new technology will, no doubt, enhance the safety of our roads.”