When Cullman County schools begin classes next week, school buses will pick up and drop off around 5,000 students, and the safety of those students is a priority.

To improve safety, the 107 buses in the county will be equipped with new cameras that should cut down on the number of illegal passings of school buses.

These cameras can take photos of any vehicle that passes a bus with its stop sign extended, said Cullman County Schools Transportation Director Jeff Harper.

There are no school systems around that have these cameras, and Harper said he wants county residents to know about them before the new school year starts.

“We want the public to know that we’ve got that technology, and we’re going to prosecute,” he said. “We’re on the cutting edge of this.”

Harper said the school system is partnering with the Cullman County Sheriff’s Office to make sure that every person who illegally passes a school bus is punished.

“We’re going to turn in 100 percent,” he said.

For one day last year, the Alabama State Board of Education asked all school systems to report the number of illegal school bus passings, and found 1,862 instances across the state in that day alone.

That number includes several instances from Cullman County, and it continues to go up every year, Harper said.

He said many of these are due to people not paying attention to their surroundings, and maybe the cameras will force people to start paying more attention.

“I do not want them to get a citation,” he said. “But they’ve got to stop.”

The new cameras also simplify the process of catching the people who are illegally pass a bus, he said.

In the past, bus drivers had to get the license plate number of a car that passed them, and then had to swear out a warrant for that person, and then it was the bus driver’s word against that other person’s, Harper said.

Now, for the more efficient process, a bus driver simply has to call Harper whenever someone illegally passes a bus.

Once the bus is parked after completing its route, a shop worker can download any footage from the cameras and send it to Harper, who will then forward it to the Sheriff’s Office.

If a person passes a bus at 7:15 in the morning, the picture of them doing so will be in the hands of the Sheriff’s Office by 9 a.m., Harper said.

The installation of the cameras is thanks to the priorities of the Cullman County School Board, Harper said.

When going to the school board for 20 new buses for the new school year, he said he asked that new ones have cameras, and the board unanimously agreed to get the cameras installed on the older buses as well.

“They put safety at the top of the list and spent the bucks for this,” Harper said.

Tyler Hanes can be reached at 256-734-2131 ext. 138.

– First offense: A $150-$300 fine

– Second offense: A $300-$500 fine, 100 hours of community service and a 30-day suspended license.

– Third offense: A $500-$1,000 fine, 200 hours of community service and a 60-day suspended license.

– Fourth or subsequent offense: A class C felony conviction carrying a possible 1-10-year prison sentence, a $1,000-$3,000 fine and a suspended license for one year.