With a push of a button, local school bus drivers can ensure that vehicles illegally passing a bus are caught on camera.

State and local leaders hope the cameras will discourage drivers from passing a stopped bus when its lights are flashing and its stop sign is extended.

“We want to make it known that if you do run the lights, it is somebody’s life that’s in danger ... you’ve got kids crossing,” said Stephen Janes, transportation supervisor for Park County School District No. 1.

Last year, the Wyoming Legislature approved $5 million to fund cameras for buses. The effort to equip Wyoming school buses with outside cameras was prompted by the 2011 death of an 11-year-old girl, who was struck and killed in Fremont County as she crossed a highway after getting off a school bus that had its flashing lights activated, according to The Associated Press.

The Powell school district was among the first in the state to install outside cameras on all of its buses after lawmakers approved the funding last year. It cost $64,902 to equip the district’s 24 school buses with cameras, and the state provided reimbursement, said Mary Jo Lewis, coordinator of business services.

Around 60 percent of school buses in Wyoming now have cameras. As of last month, school districts around the state had tapped more than $2 million of the funds, said David Koskelowski, education consultant for pupil transportation with the Wyoming Department of Education.

The cameras have made it easier to track vehicles who illegally pass stopped buses, Janes said.

“When we have someone go through the red lights, we have evidence,” he said. “For the most part, we try to use it as a learning device for the community. We definitely don’t want to have the whole community upset at us, but we also want to have everybody informed and knowing that we do have cameras, and we will prosecute if we have to.”

When school buses are stopped, the drivers’ main focus is paying attention to kids as they get on and off the bus, Janes said. That makes it difficult for drivers to also try to get a license plate number on a vehicle that illegally passes a bus.

“Now all they have to do when they see a car go by is reach down and press a button,” he said.

The cameras are always rolling, but by pushing the button, the bus driver can pinpoint in the video exactly when a vehicle illegally passed.

Video footage is then shared with law enforcement officers, who can contact the driver and issue a warning or citation.

Over the past year in Powell, there were nine traffic complaints of drivers illegally passing a stopped school bus, according to the Powell Police Department.

Since January, the Park County Sheriff’s Office has had seven traffic complaints for drivers who passed school buses when the lights were flashing, said Monte McClain, communications supervisor for the sheriff’s office. All were given warnings because the drivers couldn’t be positively identified, he said.

While cameras have made it easier to get license plate numbers, it’s still important to get a description of the driver to issue a citation, said McClain.

The Wyoming Highway Patrol also cites drivers for illegally passing school buses.

Illegally passing a school bus typically results in $420 in penalties.

Janes reminded drivers to always stop when a bus’ lights are flashing and its stop sign is out. If it’s a four-lane road, and the lanes aren’t separated by a median or borrow ditch, then traffic in all four lanes must stop, Janes said. He gave the Ralston area as a local example.

The cameras’ range reaches two or three lanes, but not four, he said.

“That’s where we have a lot of problems,” he said.

Koskelowski said it’s too soon to say whether the bus cameras have made it safer for students. Public-service efforts also are underway to raise awareness about illegally passing stopped buses, he said.

“I’d love to say that investment also contributed to the lower number of fly-bys,” Koskelowski said. “I don’t think we’ve had it in place long enough for it to be a deterrent.”

Still, leaders are seeing encouraging signs.

Earlier this year, an annual one-day count found 99 violators who illegally passed stopped school buses in Wyoming. That is the lowest total recorded since the practice began in the 1999-2000 school year, Koskelowski said.

In 2011-12, the one-day count recorded 297 fly-bys, he said.

“But it’s just nice to think that we put cameras on the buses and that year that we did our data collection we had our lowest number of fly-bys,” Koskelowski said.

(The Associated Press contributed to this story.)