CARROLTON, Ga. — The Carrollton City School System will partner with American Traffic Solutions (ATS) to deploy CrossingGuard®, ATS’ new technology to help school districts address the growing problem of illegal passing of school buses that are stopped and boarding or disembarking children.
Before deciding to add the technology to their school bus fleet, Carrollton City Schools conducted an informal study to determine the number of stop arm violations. In one afternoon a total of 23 violations occurred.
“Student safety is at the forefront of every discussion we have in the school system,” said Michael Sanders, Assistant Superintendant of Carrollton City Schools. “Through the program, we hope to significantly reduce the number of these types of violations which will increase the overall safety of our students.”
The CrossingGuard® school bus arm safety solution, mounts high-resolution cameras to the front and rear driver’s side of a school bus to capture the entire violation event. When the stop arm is deployed, the system detects if a vehicle passes the stopped school bus within the enforcement zone.
The violation video and license plate images are then reviewed by law enforcement for approval prior to a citation being issued. In Georgia, the penalty for a violation will warrant the vehicle’s owner a $300 fine for the first violation, a $750 fine for the second, and a third violation in a five-year period will result in a $1,000 fine.
“We are excited to partner with the City of Carrollton Police Department and American Traffic Solutions on this initiative,” said Sanders. “This new technology serves as another opportunity to educate the citizens and reemphasize the importance of proceeding cautiously when approaching a school bus.”
Carrollton City Schools expect to have cameras issuing violations at the start of the 2012-2013 school year.
About American Traffic Solutions
ATS is proud to be the market leader in road safety camera installations in North America. ATS has more than 3,000 installed red-light and speed safety cameras serving more than 30 million people. ATS is the largest road safety camera program service provider in North America with awards or contracts with nearly 300 local jurisdictions in 21 states and D.C., including: Fort Worth, Kansas City, Memphis, Nassau County (N.Y.), New York City, Orlando, Philadelphia, Seattle, St. Louis and more. ATS also offers PlatePass, an automated electronic toll payment service that enables rental vehicle customers to use high-speed, cashless electronic toll lanes. For more information, please visit: www.atsol.com or www.PlatePass.com.
