School bus stop arm cameras show dangerous drivers

FORSYTH COUNTY, Ga. - Surveillance video from school bus cameras show the dangerous and reckless ways drivers try to run school bus stop sign arms. 

The video, shared by the Forsyth County Sheriff's Office, comes as deputies have enforced the surveillance program with video cameras over the course of six months. 

The alarming ways cars drive past bus stop arms, speed while a yellow light is blinking, or blatantly disregard the law is a reflection of dangerous drivers across the state and the country.

"Pay attention. Somebody's life is really on the line," said Sheriff Ron Freeman, who said his childhood friend was hit by a car while at a bus stop. 

On Halloween, three siblings in Indiana were killed at a bus stop by a pick-up truck. While no horrific accidents have happened like this in Forsyth County, the sheriff said deputies are working to prevent such tragedies and hope drivers do the same. 

Since its late April launch, 302 citations have been issued; the citation numbers per month have decreased since the start of the new school year.

A team of five deputies reviews the videos before issuing a citation.  

"We would love to see zero citations. We hope that no citations get issued because that means no one is running a school bus stop arm," Freeman said.  

He said the largest cause of citations is drivers attempting to bypass a stop sign arm while the light flashes yellow; the light indicates for drivers to slow to a stop.

Drivers on both sides of the roads must slow to a stop when a bus pulls over and deploys the stop sign arm; the exception is for the opposite side of a divided highway separated by a median.  

 The statewide citation fee is $250 for a violation.