The Woodbridge Township School District says near 3,000 cars illegally passed school buses with the stop-arm down last school year during a pilot program.

From Sept. 4 through June 18, 10 Woodbridge school buses equipped with BusPatrol’s AI-powered stop-arm cameras recorded a total of 2,840 instances of cars illegally passing school buses while they were stopped to pick up or drop off students.

That breaks down to an average of 2.2 illegal passes per bus per day.

But there are some New Jersey lawmakers that are pushing for legislation that would allow school districts to partner with local police departments to use the stop-arm cameras.

Woodbridge Township School District Superintendent Dr. Joseph Massimino, says "Our school bus safety pilot results confirm what we often hear from our bus drivers and parents–that careless drivers are regularly putting our students at risk on community roadways when they disregard stopped school buses."

“Across the country, more and more states are taking steps to address threats to school bus safety using technology to change driver behavior and make our roads safer for children," said Assemblyman Robert Karabinchak.

"Now it’s time for New Jersey to pass this common-sense legislation and give our school districts the opportunity to take advantage of these proven safety tools,” said Karabinchak.

There are about 30 other states that have safety programs in place including Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania.

October 20-24 is National School Bus Safety Week.