Georgia’s Paulding County Schools combats illegal bus passing

DALLAS, Ga. — Paulding County Schools will partner with American Traffic Solutions to deploy CrossingGuard to help address the problem of illegal passing of school buses.

“Our goal is to educate our drivers and community regarding the dangers of passing a school bus when it is stopped to load or unload students,” said Terre Loveall, director of transportation. “Drivers passing a stopped school bus whose indicator lights are flashing and stop arm extended create a dangerous environment for our students. We hope this program helps to awaken drivers to the dangers of illegally passing school buses. Keeping the students of Paulding County safe is our No. 1 priority.”

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

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.

The violation video and license plate images are then reviewed by law enforcement for approval prior to a citation being issued. In Georgia, the penalty for a first stop-arm violation will warrant the vehicle’s owner a $300 fine for the first violation, 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 Paulding County Schools, Paulding County Sheriff’s Office and American Traffic Solutions,” Sheriff Gary Gulledge said. “This new technology will, no doubt, enhance the safety of our highways by protecting all of us — most importantly our most valued resource, our children.”

Last week, Georgia’s Clayton County Schools announced that it will partner with American Traffic Solutions to equip its buses with CrossingGuard.