JONESBORO, Ga. — Clayton County Schools will partner with American Traffic Solutions (ATS) to deploy CrossingGuard on its school buses.

ATS’ technology helps school districts address the growing problem of motorists illegally passing school buses that are stopped while children are boarding or disembarking.

“Our goal is to educate and awaken drivers to the dangers of illegally passing school buses,” said Harold Walker, director of transportation. “This program is designed to teach drivers the school bus stop-arm laws and change their behaviors in a positive way to protect the lives of the children who ride a school bus to and from school every day.”

In 2011, Georgia passed legislation to permit counties to equip school buses with video cameras to catch drivers who illegally drive by school buses.

The CrossingGuard school bus arm safety solution mounts cameras and sensors on the side of a school bus. When the stop arm is deployed, the sensors automatically detect a vehicle illegally passing the stop arm in either direction, capturing video of the violation and the vehicle’s license plate.

The violation video is then reviewed by the Clayton County Police Department for approval prior to a citation being issued. In Georgia, the penalty for the first stop-arm violation will warrant the vehicle’s owner a $300 fine, a $750 fine for the second violation, and a third violation in a five-year period will result in a $1,000 fine.

“We are excited about this collaboration between Clayton County, Clayton County Schools and American Traffic Solutions,” said Jeffrey Turner, chairman of the Clayton County Board of Commissioners. “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 month, Marietta (Ga.) City Schools announced that it had partnered with ATS to equip its buses with the company's system.