BOONE COUNTY, Ky. – A Northern Kentucky school district is taking the lead when it comes to keeping students safe on their way to and from school.

Legislation requiring stop-arm cameras on school buses is working its way through Frankfort.

But Boone County’s fleet already includes a dozen new school buses equipped with the cameras.

Bus driver Heather Schultz has five years experience under her belt. Schultz said she's seen a few drivers ignore the stop arm when kids get in or off the bus.

“I’ve had people come at me and they, I mean everything is flashing, the stop arm's out, this out, the lights are flashing, they just blow right by it. They don't even stop,” Schultz said.

Transportation Director Robert Barrix said this year the school district added 12 new buses with stop-arm cameras. 

“Really you wouldn't be able to tell unless you're looking for a small looks like a small triangular device sticking out the side of the bus,” Barrix said.

Barrix said these cameras will help keep students safe by automatically capturing stop-arm violations for law enforcement to review.

“When you turn the ignition on this thing the camera is constantly taking photographs. We can use to take stills, we can use to take rolling pictures,” Barrix said.

Barrix said it works simply by pushing a button.

“What will happen is this stop arm is deployed out like this and we see someone coming by and running the stop arm the driver has the ability to hit a button on the front dash that marks the film of when the violation occurs,” Barrix said.

Schultz said she is hoping the new features on  the bus will help her focus more on the children.

“So now with the extra feature, we can keep out attention on our students more than trying to worry if someone's around a stop arm, it's that extra eye to where we can focus on the kids,” Schultz said.

The school district said they plan to add seven more buses with stop arm cameras by May.

In addition, House Bill 34 passed the Kentucky House of Representatives earlier this month. Now it's up to the senate Appropriations and revenue committee to take action.