Buses deliver students at Dodgen Middle School on Monday
Staff/Laura Moon
Staff/Laura Moon
Capt. Mark Cheatham with Acworth Police said his department issued two stop arm tickets. But public information officers with Kennesaw, Smyrna, Powder Springs and Austell police said no tickets were issued in their jurisdictions. Marietta Police could not provide data late Monday but Cobb Police wrote one citation to a 17 year-old after classes ended on Monday.
Otherwise, a spokesman with the school district credited its transportation department on getting kids to and from school safely and on time Monday and reported that it was a good first day back at school for the more than 100,000 Cobb Schools students.
“Our whole goal (Monday) was to be so visible so that every kid waiting on the bus at the bus stops saw a policeman,” Cheatham said. “We hit every single neighborhood a couple of times over.”
Acworth Police had about 10 officers patrolling the city limits and area schools. The tickets were issued to one driver in the Lake Park
subdivision off Baker Road and another in the Grove Park subdivision, not far from Lake Park on Grove Drive.
“Lake Park is our largest subdivision in the city, with over 500 homes,” he said. “The streets are very small — all two-lane — and the same thing with Grove Park.”
He did not give any details regarding the citations.
The Cobb School District has equipped 102 of its 1,120 school buses with cameras that take video and still images of drivers violating the stop arm law.
Cobb County commissioners have said they expect to reach an agreement with American Traffic Solutions of Tempe, Ariz., and Cobb Schools today that will allow them to write citations when the violations are viewed on camera.
Violators caught on video will receive a $300 fine in the mail. If a police officer personally witnesses the violation, the criminal penalty is $600 for the first offense and six points are added to one’s drivers license.
When a school bus is stopped to load or unload children, drivers traveling in both directions are required to stop. The only exception to this law is for drivers traveling in the opposite direction of the school bus on a divided highway with four or more lanes separated by a median.
Reviewing the first day of school for Cobb, spokesman Jay Dillon said there was heavy traffic in and out of Nickajack and Kennesaw elementary schools but the problems will be addressed. He added that the last year’s redistricting resulted in two or three students going to the incorrect schools but it was “easily remedied.”
He also said a few schools reported that a handful of parents dropped off unregistered children; that the initial headcounts indicates that enrollment may be up; and that while the school district is concerned about the unfinished construction at McCleskey Middle, the school opened and “looked great” Monday.
“Buses were on time (Monday) morning … so far (Monday) afternoon, no missing or misplaced students. That’s highly unusual for the first day. More kudos to transportation which implemented a new system over the past two years to ensure that all (Kindergarten through third-grade) students get off at the right bus stop,” he said.
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Speeding in school zone areas when school is in session and cut thru and do not obey the speed limit.
Also you have school students that trespass on other people property even when signs are posted.
They do not respect your property and do as they please. Will tell you they will go where they please and the property (woods) do not belong to them. We have even had adults from areas near come thru and walk their dogs even.
What can be done for speeders and trespassers in the Walton High School Area. We do want people on our property. We want cars slowed down and not used as a cut thru. We also want signs to slow down drivers. Even out her to ticket those who go over 35 miles per hour and to make children get on and use the sidewalk beside the road and stay off provate property.
They need to learn how to show respect and abide by the laws.
A conserned resident.
And to answer Rules Holland: You'd still have to stop according to the law. The only exemption to not stopping if traveling the opposite direction of the bus is if there is a median or divider between the lanes (not a turn lane) such as HWY 92 has between I-75 & I-575 or Wade Green has between I-75 and HWY 92.
That is the most repulsive idea I have heard in a long while. It is not about safety for our kids, it is about putting money in somebody's pocket. We have police, the school baord has police. Why are we passing this duty along to a profit making enterprise?
Whoever came up with this lame brained scheme needs to be fired and confined to an institutuon for the mentally incompetent.
By the way, you seriously need an attitude adjustment. Lot of pent up anger there. Particularly when it would appear we are both on the same side, that being the safety of the kids.
BTW, you don't need to tell me that WWII is over, I was around when it started and I remember the day it ended, and this happens to be the 67th anniversary of that day. VJ Day, August 14, 1945
Yopu both lack the abilioty to read and comprehend. The law itself is a wonderful device by which to afford a little protection to our kids and to punish those who would put them in jeopadry.
What I find objectionable is the fact that we, n Cobb County, cannot enforce the law and must hire a for profit firm out of Tempe, Arizona to do the job. Why? We have a police force. The School District has a police force, If we can empower a private firm to issue tickets, based on camera recorded evidence, then we could also empower out own police to do so. In so, doing the action would be faster and punishement more swift.
Just how much do you think the firm in ARIZONA care about the safety of the kids in Cobb County, GA ? I can tell you. ZERO! The only thing they care about is the $ 300.00.
We do not enact laws to collect fines. We enact laws to control nehavior. I think we are capable of doing that without lining the pockets of some private enterprise.
Patrolling by traveling the roads in their vehicles is a great way to deter traffic violations as well as to catch offenders.nce