SAFE FLEET BLOG

We say, the Technology to Decrease these Numbers is Real and Available Today.

The staggering statistics associated with the number of stop arm violations occurring each day are hard to fathom.

The NASDPTS 2019 School Bus Industry Survey identified an average of 95,000 illegal passes across 39 states in a single day. That’s 17 million near misses in one school year, an increase of 2 million from last year alone.

What do these stop arm violations numbers mean in terms of student fatalities? The years between 2013 and 2017 have seen an average of 3.8 deaths each (the results of the 2018-2019 school year have not yet been released). However, the number of injuries and fatalities attributed to stop arm violations or being struck by a vehicle while waiting at a bus stop during a six-day period the last week of October 2018 are widely known. Six students were killed and eight students and two adults were injured.

One death is one too many. Likewise, one injury related to the School Bus Danger Zone is one too many. Given that, these injury and death numbers are incredibly discouraging. We all recognize that something must change, and we also all recognize that driving these numbers down requires change and change requires time.

We don’t have time, not if we truly believe one injury or death is one too many.

Unlike many scenarios that present seemingly insurmountable odds, there is reason to have hope we can affect real, significant and timely change. We have the tools and the technology to drive these numbers down today.

The traditional approach to reducing stop arm violations has been through educating drivers on how to behave around the school bus and capturing video evidence (through stop arm cameras) when a violation occurs. Fines are then issued to the driver after-the-fact. This reactive approach, while potentially effective over the long term (we are talking years), doesn’t prevent an accident from occurring this very moment and doesn’t significantly help to drive accident rates down in short order.

Addressing the issue of stop arm violations effectively requires a different and more proactive approach: technology that focuses on the students and bus operators, rather than the personal vehicle operator. The Predictive Stop Arm® (PSA) is an innovative, patents-pending solution that uses radar technology and predictive analytics to monitor oncoming vehicle traffic for probable stop arm violations. Analytics algorithms process the data from the radar sensors and determine whether a vehicle has sufficient time to slow down and stop, or whether a stop arm violation is probable. If the system perceives that students should not cross, audible and visual warnings are issued to the bus operator and audible warnings are issued to the students. The technology helps keep students safer by notifying the bus driver and the students that it may not be safe to cross — before an accident occurs. This technology proactively increases student safety so quickly and effectively that it’s been called a ‘game-changer‘ in the industry.

What the experts say

The Predictive Stop Arm is currently in use in five school districts across the United States, and each school district is pleased with the results. A bus operator at Hopkins Public Schools in Minnesota believes the PSA is the first technology he’s seen in the 20 years he’s been operating a bus that truly focuses on the safety of the students. Don Carter, the Transportation Coordinator at St. Lucie Public Schools in Florida, considers the PSA an extra measure of safety for the students crossing the street. And Derrick Agate, the Transportation Director at Hopkins Public Schools is using the PSA in combination with stop arm cameras to both prevent illegal passbys from injuring one of his students and to work with law enforcement to issue violations to drivers when warranted.

We can’t keep doing what we’ve been doing and expect a different outcome. Children are at increasing risk every day in numbers we can’t even begin to wrap our heads around. The Predictive Stop Arm is an innovative approach that can be the ‘change-agent’ that is necessary to quickly and effectively reduce risk to students in the Danger Zone.

For more information on Safe Fleet’s Predictive Stop Arm product or to learn more about Safe Fleet’s Intelligent Perimeter Safety Suite of solutions, please contact [email protected]

No system can prevent all incidents.  Inattentive drivers, weather, erratic student behavior, and other factors can inhibit detection and overall system performance. Drivers must always keep proper lookout.