SAFE FLEET BLOG

More than 15 million illegal school bus passes occurred nation-wide in the 2018 school year and with these numbers came tragic consequences.

In October, 2018 one Rochester, Indiana family lost three children in just one illegal passing incident.

The deaths of the siblings prompted U.S. Reps Jackie Walorski (R-Ind.) and Julia Brownley (D-Calif) to initiate the Stop for School Buses Act which aims to improve student safety by researching methods of preventing illegal passing of school buses.

The National Student Transportation Association (NSTA) and Safe Fleet have been collaborating on efforts to build support for the proposed legislation as well as increasing awareness of the underlying issues associated with illegal school bus passing and promoting how technology can be used to help increase student safety outside the bus.

With this in mind, Safe Fleet helped organize and participate in a technology showcase on Capitol Hill during the 2019 National School Bus Safety Week.

Safe Fleet’s VP of School Bus, Chris Akiyama spoke to a crowd of interested parties, including NSTA members, school bus OEM manufacturers, the media and the four originating co-sponsors (US Senators Todd Young and Gary Peters and US Representatives Jackie Walorski and Julia Brownley) of the House and Senate bills mentioned above. Discussing the issues of increased driver distraction and a prevailing lack of awareness of the rules and regulations on how to share the road with school buses, Mr. Akiyama presented three ground-breaking technologies that together form an innovative, effective and comprehensive approach to increasing student safety outside the bus.

Safe Fleet’s Driver Alert, provides additional notification to the motorist by way of a lit display on the back of the bus that indicates either the bus is about to stop, or that the motorist should stop as the bus is stopped and children will be loading or unloading.

If the motorist fails to observe the school bus’ flashing lights or the Driver Alert signage, Safe Fleet’s Predictive Stop Arm®, which uses radar and analytic algorithms to determine whether oncoming vehicles are likely to illegally pass the school bus, will actively and audibly alert students to stay back and not step out on to the street. The Predictive Stop Arm (PSA) also notifies the school bus operator that an illegal pass by is being predicted.

The final technology demonstrated included Safe Fleet’s Stop Arm Camera integrating with Verra Mobility’s back-end ticketing software. If a motorist passes a stopped school bus illegally, the Stop Arm Camera will capture the license plate information and the Verra Mobility software will transmit the captured evidence for ticketing of the motorist after the fact.

While the Driver Alert and Stop Arm Camera technologies do not result in an immediate shift in motorist behavior, they are in fact critical and effective tools for longer-term education to effect gradual but steady changes in driver behavior.

The PSA is the only technology of its kind that monitors oncoming traffic and notifies students and bus operators when it’s deemed unsafe to cross. This technology aims to stop an accident before it happens, and the benefits of implementing it can be realized immediately.  Unlike any other technology in the market, the PSA represents both an effective immediate and long term strategy.

These three technologies in concert are considered by many to be capable of bringing about rapid, positive and lasting change, the need for which has never been more urgent. The 2019 school year has shown an increase in illegal school bus passes by more than two million over the previous year, for a total of 17 million illegal bus passes having occurred nation-wide.

This is one example of the many ways in which Safe Fleet is Driving Safety Forward.™