ATLANTA — Drivers in metro Atlanta say yellow school bus warning lights don’t stay on long enough to give them time to slow down, resulting in $1,000 fines.
Channel 2 Action News Investigates first told you about this issue in November. Channel 2 investigative reporter Justin Gray found one woman who had her case dismissed, but it took multiple trips to the Municipal Court of Atlanta to get it done, he reported on Channel 2 Action News This Morning.
“I did slow down, kept going and really didn’t think too much of it until a few weeks later when I got a ticket in the mail for a thousand dollars,” Robin Mace said.
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Mace’s story is one that Channel 2 Action News Investigates has heard multiple times over the past several months.
“The bus was still rolling,” Walter Hughley said.
“I never saw a school bus,” said Bryan Holland, who also received a bus violation.
Drivers argue that the caution lights on the bus aren’t flashing long enough to give drivers enough time to stop.
“It would have been more dangerous for me to slam on my brakes than it was to simply proceed,” Mace told Gray.
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It’s not just the fine that frustrated her. It was the work it took to prove her innocence.
“When I returned from vacation, I had a default judgment against me where I was found guilty and I owed the thousand dollars,” Mace said.
So back to the courthouse she went.
“I spoke to the solicitor again, and was told that unfortunately there was nothing I could do, that the judge had made a decision,” she said.
So she wrote to Judge Terrinee Gundy. She granted Mace a new date.
“She looked at the information provided and said that it was very clear there was no way that I could have stopped given the time that the yellow lights in the arm came on and she dismissed my case,” Mace said.
Despite the hassle, Mace said she supports the tougher penalties, but says the technology and those approving it need to be more accurate.
“You have to be fair in how you dole out citations like this,” she said.
If you get a violation, don’t ignore it. It’s a civil judgement so you won’t face jail time, but you could lose your registration if you don’t pay.
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