GEORGETOWN, Texas — The Georgetown Independent School District (ISD) board has approved an agreement with American Traffic Solutions to bring stop-arm cameras to the district's school buses.

The district and the Georgetown Police Department will partner with American Traffic Solutions to deploy CrossingGuard, the road safety camera provider's solution to help address the problem of illegal passing of school buses.

A 2013 survey in Texas, conducted as part of the national stop-arm violation count, found 9,825 instances of stop-arm running statewide in one day. (The national total was 85,279 violations.)

“The safety of our children is our No. 1 priority,” said Walter Prothro, transportation director for Georgetown ISD. “By leveraging technology, we hope to change driver behaviors and reduce violations to keep our children safe.”

Cameras will be installed on Georgetown ISD school buses at no cost to the district. The CrossingGuard solution mounts high-resolution cameras to the front and rear driver’s side of a school bus to capture the entire violation event.

In Georgetown, the violation video and license plate images will be reviewed by the Georgetown Police Department for approval before a notice of violation is issued.

“We look forward to this collaboration between the Georgetown Police Department, Georgetown ISD and American Traffic Solutions,” Chief of Police Wayne Nero said. “This new technology addresses the needs of our citizens by detecting and enforcing these dangerous violations, which threaten the safety of our children.”

In September, the maximum fine for a first offense of stop-arm running in Texas increased from $1,000 to $1,250. However, it appears that a fine of $300 is more common.