Every school year, nearly 42 million drivers illegally pass school buses while children are crossing the street

It’s School Bus Safety Week!

We’re working to keep kids safe from dangerous drivers by developing an automated school bus stop arm enforcement platform powered by our patented, mobile enforcement solution.

Millions of children ride school buses across the United States. Yet every school year, nearly 42 million drivers violate laws prohibiting them from passing stopped school buses, putting children directly into harm’s way. Unfortunately, this staggeringly high number of violations hasn’t changed since 2019, the last time the National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services conducted this one-day national survey of school bus drivers.

“These numbers, when adjusted for 100% of the school bus drivers across the country, show that unfortunately illegal passings of stopped school buses are at an epidemic level,” said Pat McManamon, President of the National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services. “Too often the safety of our nation’s children is put into question simply because motorists are either not paying attention or are in a hurry. This is simply unacceptable.”

Automated school bus stop arm technology is an effective solution to this problem. A 2021 National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) study of automated school bus stop arm enforcement in three school districts across the country found that stop arm cameras catch as many as 35 times more violations than police officers and school bus drivers – and that these programs lead to a decrease in violations among drivers who have already received one violation.

Another study found that 99% of drivers who received a school bus stop arm violation ticket do not receive a second ticket. This powerful finding indicates that automated enforcement leads to a decrease in violations over time, and that receiving a ticket leads drivers to change their behavior – both of which increase safety.

We’re working to keep kids safe from dangerous drivers by developing an automated school bus stop arm enforcement platform. This platform is powered by our patented, mobile enforcement solution already in use in New York City to conduct automated enforcement of bus lanes for the MTA. By leveraging AI and computer vision, we can protect children as they get on and off the bus by using mobile camera solutions mounted on buses that detect, identify, and process school bus stop arm violations.

With pedestrian fatalities increasing at an alarming rate, it’s time for school districts to deploy automated school bus stop arm enforcement technology. We finally have the technological tools to keep kids safe from dangerous drivers – let’s make it happen.