The Henry County school system is the latest district to consider putting stop-arm cameras on its school buses to catch scofflaws who drive around buses that have stopped to pick up or drop off children, Channel 2 Action News reported.
The school board this week agreed to look into an agreement with SmartBus Live of Rhode Island to set up the video system, which would produce still-frame video of drivers who pass a bus when its stop arm is out, district spokesman J.D. Hardin told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in a phone interview.
“We have 310 buses in our fleet,” Hardin said. “Right now the idea is to put them in select buses; we haven’t identified which buses at this moment.”
Bus routes that have reported a higher number of stop-arm violators likely would get the first cameras, the spokesman said. The devices would capture images of scofflaws’ vehicles and tag numbers so authorities could issue traffic citations.
The district plans to work with SmartBus to schedule advertisements and public service announcements about state laws regarding school buses, Hardin said. Drivers are supposed to stop if a bus has activated its flashers and put out its stop arms to signal that children are about to get on or off the vehicles.
The district also needs to determine the schedule of fines and which law enforcement agency would be responsible for handling violations, Hardin said.
Henry school officials cited a survey taken on a single day last May in which school bus drivers around the country reported more than 14,000 stop-arm violations. A total of 4,629 were in Georgia, and 29 in Henry Country.
The district hopes to install the first cameras by this fall for the new school year.
Last fall, Cobb County equipped 102 school buses with cameras. The cameras have caught 300 motorists who passed stopped school buses in the first half of the current school year, WSB AM750 and 95.5 FM reported.
Fines in Cobb start at $300 for the first offense and rise to $1,000 for the third offense in five years. Cobb officials have said fines are expected to cover the cost to install the cameras, about $200 per bus.
Fayette County schools also use such cameras, and Fulton County school officials have been considering them.
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