How it works
The camera is placed on the driver’s side of the school bus. It monitors traffic in both directions while the stop arm and amber lights are displayed, leaving the bus driver free to focus on students. Evidence of violations, including video and photos, is submitted to local law enforcement. Motorists are sent a citation with a photo of the alleged violation and ordered to pay a fine of $300 for the first violation, $750 for the second offense and $1,000 for a third violation within five years.
Gwinnett County school board members voted unanimously in favor of an agreement late Thursday that will put cameras on school buses. That’s planned to discourage and catch motorists who drive past as school buses are picking up or dropping off students.
The cameras will record when someone drives past when the bus’s “stop” arm is down.
Gwinnett, Georgia's largest school district, has wanted to install the cameras for more than a year, but an agreement with Redflex Traffic Systems was delayed last year when a competitor appealed the decision, pointing to some legal troubles the company had in Chicago.
At the time, Redflex was at the center of a federal bribery investigation. Gwinnett leaders conceded they were unaware of the bribery allegations, though they had been reported in the media. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported last year that a Gwinnett consultant told a Redflex official via email not to mention the Chicago scandal.
In May 2014, federal prosecutors arrested a retired Chicago city official on bribery charges, accusing him of taking hundreds of thousands of dollars from Redflex, a condominium in Arizona and other goodies from an unnamed company official to help it get that city’s traffic-light camera contract. Prosecutors say bribes occurred from 2003 through 2011.
Gwinnett officials have said that all parties involved are no longer with the company and Redflex has implemented procedures to prevent any impropriety. Gwinnett later denied the competitor’s appeal.
In June, Gwinnett school officials delayed approving the contract after learning they needed an agreement with the county government to properly manage the program. County commissioners approved the agreement earlier this month.
Several local school districts — such as Cobb, Decatur and Marietta — already use bus cameras. Cobb, the state’s second-largest school district, has reported a significant decline in violators. In April 2013, Cobb filed 1,300 citations, according to published reports. In April 2014, there were 767 citations.
Decatur, which went with the cameras earlier this year, has recorded 258 violations since it started issuing citations on Aug. 4, a district spokeswoman said.
Some school districts in other parts of the country have issued lots of citations, only to see many of them tossed out in court. In Dallas, Texas, 70 percent of disputed citations were dismissed over some human or technical flaw, The Dallas Morning News reported earlier this year.
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