• Bus cameras began being installed this week, and will continue through the rest of the week.
• The camera will take a picture of the back of the car as it passes the bus, and will then show up as a “flag”, which they can then report to authorities.
• Tickets given for illegally passing buses will run around $300.

ATHENS, GA- Camera installation on all Clarke County School buses is almost complete. The cameras can save the life of a child but as reporter Jessica Fritz explains, if you ignore them, it’ll cost you.

Engineer Ricky Robertson of Angel Trax continued working on installing the new cameras to Clarke County school buses today. The process started this week and they hope to have all of the buses finished before the weekend. Tickets given for passing the bus will run you around $300. Robertson explains how they work.

He says, “Basically your front camera will capture people coming [from behind the bus] and when they pass the two back cameras capture the back of the car in each lane.”

The camera will take a picture of the back of the car as it passes the bus, and will then show up as a “flag” on the footage shot from the front camera. Once the footage is viewed by the school, they can go through and see the tag number of the car illegally passing the bus, which they can then report to authorities.

Cathy Benson, the Director of Transportation for Clarke County Schools, says, “The main reason is the safety of our students. We do surveys every year about how many violations we have…we found that we had hundred of violations. This program will help drivers keep their eyes on the road, keep their eye on the students crossing over the road, and let the cameras find those violators for us.”

Robertson says the system is vital in protecting the safety of kids by saying, “It’s very important  that we have the safety of our kids and protect them because they come first and are the future of our tomorrow.”

Benson goes on to say that the camera system will hopefully raise awareness about the importance of stopping for buses.

She says, “If nothing else, we’re going to have a public awareness campaign, and we will be able to educate the public exactly when they should be stopping for the buses.”