School bus stop arm pilot reveals extent of violations

A school bus stop arm pilot programme undertaken in Volusia County in Florida has revealed the level of drivers illegally passing stopped school buses when the stop arm is extended and children are boarding or disembarking. During a 29 day pilot period, cameras on just one of the county's 229 buses captured a total of 71 violations. The pilot results also showed that eight out of every 10 violations occurred between 1:00pm and 3:00pm with 67 per cent of the violations occurring on either Tuesday or Wednesda
June 5, 2012 Read time: 2 mins

A school bus stop arm pilot programme undertaken in Volusia County in Florida has revealed the level of drivers illegally passing stopped school buses when the stop arm is extended and children are boarding or disembarking. During a 29 day pilot period, cameras on just one of the county's 229 buses captured a total of 71 violations. The pilot results also showed that eight out of every 10 violations occurred between 1:00pm and 3:00pm with 67 per cent of the violations occurring on either Tuesday or Wednesday of each week. Under the pilot agreement, events were captured, but drivers were not prosecuted.

"Our goal was to measure how many drivers disregard stopped school buses with the stop arm extended and illegally pass them," said Greg Akin, director of transportation for Volusia County School District." Keeping our children safe is our number one priority and we want to change driver behavior in a positive way to protect the lives of the children who ride a school bus to and from school every day."

17 American Traffic Solutions provided Volusia County School District with its CrossingGuard camera technology to help monitor the extent of the problem. Designed to monitor and enforce traffic around a stopped school bus, CrossingGuard is powered by 5876 AngelTrax's IntelliGuard cameras mounted on the driver's side of the school bus. When the school bus extends its stop arm, the system automatically detects if a vehicle passes the stopped school bus within the enforced zone.  High-quality violation images of a vehicle's license plate and a video that captures the entire violation event provide law enforcement the evidence they need to effectively prosecute these violations.

The Volusia School District is one of six statewide participating in this pilot programme.

Enforcement

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • CCTV bus lane enforcement extended
    October 8, 2013
    Following a successful two-year pilot scheme that has delivered a reduction in offences of more than 74 per cent and faster journey times for public transport users, Leeds City Council is extending the use of automated CCTV enforcement systems for bus lanes.
    Read More
  • Wrong-way vehicle detection pilot project under way Florida
    October 20, 2014
    Florida’s Department of Transportation (FDOT) has taken action against would-be wrong-way drivers at 15 interchanges on the state’s turnpike system, with a US$400,000 pilot project designed to detect, alert and potentially deter them. The project includes enhanced LED wrong-way roadway signs on the ramps and electronic vehicle detection equipment that are designed to quickly notify law enforcement and authorities. It is intended to study the effectiveness of these traffic safety devices that are currentl
    Read More
  • London invests in bus priority schemes to help keep bus passengers moving
    January 26, 2016
    With London’s roads seeing an increase in congestion due to a construction boom and a significant growth in population, Transport for London is investing heavily in helping keep the roads moving through a range of means. Part of this programme is designed to help buses get through congested areas quicker and more reliably. A US$284 million investment in new bus priority schemes in the capital includes changes to road layouts and junctions and enabling small changes to routes so that buses can avoid traff
    Read More
  • The delicate issue of pursuing toll evaders
    May 6, 2015
    Toll evaders create major problems for tolling companies – of which lost revenue is only one. Open road tolling maximises roadway capacity but non-payers create enforcement problems Toll road operators are increasingly employing open road or free-flow electronic tolling to minimise travel times.
    Read More

Highlighted Content