Her primary defense is a whistle hanging from a Tweety Bird lanyard.

Cars stop, move or turn at the trill of her whistle and the swing of her hands.

Andy Sharp/AJC (ENLARGE)

Cobb County crossing guard Angela Wells will take down drivers' license plate numbers if they are going too fast in a school zone.

Andy Sharp/AJC (ENLARGE)

When she can, Angela Wells chats with her student-walkers, including eighth-grader Jenny Rice of Pine Mountain Middle School. In Cobb, crossing guards are part of the county Police Department.

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A few hesitate — distracted by their cellphones.

"I don't play when it comes to my kids," said Angela Wells, a school crossing guard since 1995.

It's a cold morning, and Wells has been on the job for hours. She's dressed in layers. Her hands are protected against the cold and wind by fluorescent orange gloves.

Pine Mountain Middle School is Wells' third and last stop in the morning before she heads off to Cheatham Hill Elementary School, where she works in the cafeteria. Wells, 42, will be back on the street in the afternoon.

She is one of a cadre of 58 school crossing guards in Cobb County who face traffic everyday. That means inattentive drivers, speeders and trucks lumbering by as she stands in the middle of the street. No one's been injured recently, but three have been killed on the job since the 1970s, said Cobb County police Lt. Al Campbell, who oversees the crossing guards.

Two were killed near North Cobb High School. The drivers told police the sun blinded them and they didn't see the crossing guards. Another was killed near Mableton Elementary School.

But just about every day guards, who make $21 an hour, have close calls.

"There's a growing disrespect for them," Campbell said. "People are not heeding to their authority. People are speeding through."

Adding to the hazards of the job, more parents are driving their children to school rather than putting them on the bus. That leads to traffic jams in front of the schools, which leads to frustrated drivers who want to race by.

Wells will take down tag numbers and turn them over to Campbell if she needs to.

"I'm not trying to be rude or ugly," said Wells, who lives in Marietta. "I'm just a bit overprotective of my kids because they are my responsibility."

Campbell sends two or three letters every week to drivers who have failed to obey crossing guard directions, which is required by law.

Sometimes, the drivers call Campbell to say they didn't see the crossing guard or they weren't speeding. Campbell doesn't recall anyone apologizing.

For her part, Wells has this plea:

"Slow down. Pay attention to the kids," Wells said. "And listen."