WESTOVER, Md. - Lindsey Lescallette says she is breathing easier knowing her nieces and nephews have an added layer of protection while riding the school bus.
"I rode the bus a lot, being on back roads of Somerset County that was a big fear because cars always in a rush, they were flying by," she said.
Somerset County Public Schools partnered with the Somerset County Sheriff's Office to equip all forty school buses with the cameras that will snap a picture of a car's license plate if it passes a bus that is stopped to pick up or drop off a student.
Corporal Lemuel White is tasked with sifting through those pictures to determine which drivers deserve a ticket.
"My name will be on every citation so when a violator runs a school bus and your child is involved, I'm probably going to be the one to say yay or nay," White said.
The funding for the program is generated through the tickets, which means no additional cost to the taxpayer.
Lescallette hopes the cameras will make people think twice about passing a bus.
"Hopefully it just puts fear into drivers when it comes to passing school buses even when a child might not be getting off the bus," she said.
The program is through the company "Bus Patrol." The cameras were implemented earlier this year in Queen Anne's County as well.