Gwinnett County collected about $2 million in fines last year from motorists caught on camera driving past stopped school buses, officials said Wednesday.
Gwinnett Recorder’s Court officials said during a presentation Wednesday to county commissioners that $997,696 in fines were sent to the county government. Through November, the county’s school district received $995,046 in fines, Gwinnett school district spokeswoman Sloan Roach said Wednesday.
The school district and county government reached an agreement in October 2014 to start putting cameras on school buses to catch motorists who drive past when the buses have stopped to pick up or drop off students. The cameras are intended to be a safety measure for students. Gwinnett hired Arizona-based Redflex Traffic Systems to install the cameras and help enforce the program. The county government, school district and Redflex agreed to share money from the fines collected.
Several local school districts — such as Cobb, Decatur and Marietta — already use bus cameras.
Gwinnett officials there were 23,307 citations issued in 2015.
First-time violators pay a $300 fine. Second-time offenders pay a $750 fine. Anyone who has been cited three or more times within five years must pay a $1,000 fine.
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