On April 18, the Spalding County Sheriff’s Office began issuing warnings throughout Griffin-Spalding County to vehicle owners whose vehicles illegally pass school buses when their stop arms are extended. During the 30-day warning period no fines will be assessed however beginning on May 18, vehicle owners, whose vehicles are observed passing the school bus while students are entering or exiting the bus, will receive a violation in the mail.
“Our goal is to educate and awaken drivers to the dangers of illegally passing school buses,” said Griffin-Spalding County Board of Education Chairperson Sue McDonald. “Many drivers need education on school bus stop laws. When a school bus has the stop-arm deployed, you must stop. This program will help us change driver behavior in a positive way to protect the lives of our students.”
More than 7000 students in the Griffin-Spalding County School System (GSCS) are transported to and from school on buses every day. As part of the county’s partnership with Verra Mobility, all GSCS buses, a total of 115, will be equipped with school bus stop arm safety cameras.
In 2011, the Georgia Legislature passed legislation to permit schools to equip their buses with camera technology to catch drivers who illegally drive by school buses when they stop to pick up or drop off students. The penalty for a stop-arm violation will warrant the vehicle’s owner a $250 fine.
The School Bus Stop Arm Program will be administered through the Spalding County Sheriff’s Office and the Griffin-Spalding Board of Education. Ultimately, a Spalding County Officer will review each warning and violation before issuance.
Verra Mobility’s CrossingGuard® school bus arm safety solution provides state-of-the-art stop-arm safety technology including DVR and storage devices, internal cameras, GPS, telemetry, and LTE connectivity. When the stop arm is deployed, the camera automatically detects a vehicle illegally passing the stop arm in either direction and captures video of the violation and still images of a vehicle’s license plate. The violation video and license plate images are then reviewed by law enforcement for approval prior to a warning being issued.
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