CLARKESVILLE — Habersham County recently marked 25 school days since installing school bus stop arm cameras.
In that time, more than three dozen incidents of vehicles passing stopped school buses were referred to law enforcement.
"Habersham has had 37 violations in 25 school days, which averages out to 1.5 violations per day," said Katie Sharkey of Gatekeeper Systems Inc., the company providing the cameras to the school system.
"It is a higher number than normal for a rural community similar to Habersham," Sharkey said. "It's not just a problem in metro areas such as Atlanta. It's a problem throughout the state, even in counties smaller than Habersham."
Habersham County Schools Pupil Transportation Director Tim Dockery has long sought ways to make school bus loading and unloading safer on roadways in the county and its cities.
"We've been thinking about this for a long time because it is an epidemic problem, not just here in Habersham County, but all over the state and all over the country," Dockery said. "We have had several incidents where cars pass stopped school buses. In fact, last year's survey that we did on one given day, there were seven stop signs that were passed by vehicles on that particular day, so we were looking at options as to what we could do to help cut back on those offenses."
That's when system officials discovered Gatekeeper Systems Inc. and the services it provides.
"We came up with this particular program to install these stop arm cameras on the buses, and hopefully that will deter the public from running those stop signs," Dockery said.
Dockery attributes drivers running stop signs on school buses to being in a hurry, being distracted, and not realizing the possible consequences.
"Education may be another thing," Dockery said. "Maybe they don't understand when they're supposed to stop. I don't know that it's actually taught, that when young drivers in particular get their license if they even know what the rules are for stopping for a stopped school bus."
Dockery said Georgia law is very clear about when drivers are required to stop for school buses that are loading or unloading.
"The key thing to remember is anytime a school bus is stopped, unless there is a divider between the lanes, you must stop," Dockery said. "And by divider, I mean either a wall or a grass divider. Paint is not a divider, so if it's just a painted line you still must stop going in both directions."
There is one situation where drivers often err and possibly don't realize they are, Dockery said.
"One thing that we have an issue with a lot is that we usually pull over into the right lane, if there's a right turn lane, to stop, and even if we pull over into that right lane to stop, those following the bus must — in both directions actually — must indeed stop," Dockery said.
Asked about the stop arm camera program, Habersham County Sheriff Joey Terrell said, "I think it's going really well. I think we've had 37, 30-something, instances that have been forwarded to us by the company to look at."
While more than three dozens incidents were referred to the sheriff's office, not all of those will receive a citation.
"I think we have ok'd 10 or 12 or those incidences to have a citation written on it," Terrell said. "You would ask why only 10 or 12? Well, when you're looking at a video it's hard to say yes exactly the stop sign was all the way out or what the deal was, but one thing is we do not want to make any bad case law."
Still, student safety is paramount for school system officials and law enforcement.
"We're looking to keep the kids safe, but if you write a bad citation and the citation goes to court, it can create bad case law which makes it hard for everyone," Terrell said. "Bad case law could take these camera stops away from us, so we want to make sure that we are diligent when we ok these citations. If we can, without a shadow of a doubt in our mind, that they are 100 percent -- if we have any doubt in our mind whatsoever and we're iffy about it, we always err on the side of caution."
Terrell agreed with Dockery about drivers being distracted or simply not paying attention.
"People don't pay attention," Terrell said. "We have to pay attention when we're behind the wheel. Either we're daydreaming or we're thinking about what we're going to do when we get home, when we get to work. The cellphones are main distraction. Texting and driving is still counts for the most accidents and deaths on our roads today. We need to put our cellphone down and not worry about it. That phone call can wait, or that text can wait, or that email can wait."
Consequences could be far more serious than a driver receiving a citation. A child or children could be struck.
"We need to pay attention to what's going on around us, because that stopped school bus — there could be a child walking across the road in front of it," Terrell said.
Terrell said emergency personnel, either on duty or off duty, are not immune from distractions or inattention.
"We had one of our own people that ran a stopped school bus in White County a couple of years ago, and they swore they did not see the school bus," Terrell said. "They were just riding up the road. Now that cost them. They're not doing the same job they were doing anymore, and the repercussion is they got a ticket from it."
Officials urge motorists to be aware of their surroundings at all times when school buses are on the roads, always being prepared to stop when red lights and stop signs are activated, in both directions unless there is a physical median or wall between the directions of travel.
