Carroll County Schools and American Traffic Solutions (ATS) have partnered to deploy CrossingGuard, ATS' new technology to help school districts address illegal passing of stopped school buses.
The CrossingGuard school bus arm safety solution mounts purpose-built cameras on the side of the 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 the 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.
"Our goal is to educate and awaken drivers to the dangers of illegally passing school buses," said Jackie Coffee, director of transportation for Carroll County Schools, which is based in Carrollton, Ga.
Coffee went on to say that some Georgia drivers are not educated on the state's school bus stop laws and are unintentionally putting students' lives in danger.
"Keeping our children safe is our No. 1 priority, and we want to change driver behaviors in a positive way to protect the lives of the children who ride a school bus to and from school every day," Coffee added. "This is an imperative safety need, and we are proud to have this additional tool to help protect our children."
Carroll County Schools expects to have cameras installed at the start of the 2012-13 school year.
In Georgia, the penalty for a first stop-arm violation will warrant the vehicle's owner a $300 fine. The fine for a second violation is $750, and a third violation in a five-year period will result in a $1,000 fine.
