New School Bus Cameras Catch Illegal Passers in the Act

A company wants to help reduce the 85,279 drivers per day who illegally pass school busses by installing stop arm violation cameras on school busses.

Similar to automated red light cameras, the school bus stop arm cameras automatically capture visual data on drivers who fail to stop while a school bus stop arm is deployed. Information collected is automatically sent to a processing facility where it is made available for law enforcement agencies.

A test installment of the cameras in a Georgia school district resulted in a 50 percent violation reduction rate, according to the camera's producer, American Traffic Solutions (ATS).

"Nationally, vehicles passing school buses caused the death of 467 students getting on or off school buses since 1970, accounting for 39 percent of all school bus loading and unloading fatalities," reads a release from ATS.

Your turn: Would you be comfortable if local school busses were equipped with illegal passing cameras? Let us know in the comments.