Advanced Safety Systems in Action

Immediate reduction in student injury AND long-term strategy to change motorist behavior 


When we talk about the injury or death of one more child being one child too many, the key to keeping this one child safe today is proactive technology. Education, awareness, and accountability have long been part of ongoing efforts to address the issue of risk to students outside the bus, but on their own are not effective at bringing about immediate change. 

Stop-arm technology can be an effective tool to keep students safe even as the number of stop arm violations increases. Other products in the market, including lighting, cameras, and extended stop arms, can have an impact over the long term, but do little to reduce risk in the short term. 

Today, we can make use of technology that relies on radar and predictive analytics to monitor oncoming vehicle traffic for probable stop arm violations. This technology can aid bus operators in not initiating a stop if the system deems a violation is likely and alerts both the bus operator and students of potential risk —students are alerted to stay back, through speakers mounted on the outside of the bus. 

Long-Term Risk Reduction — Advanced Technology and Stop Arm Cameras Working Together 

This type of advanced technology helps keep children safe from motorists who do not respond to education campaigns and current safety tools on the bus, while a stop arm camera can capture an image of the license plate on each vehicle that illegally passes a stopped school bus, for the purposes of issuing citations after-the-fact and changing behavior in the long-term. Fines and the risk of a rescinded driver’s license provide much-needed additional deterrence of unwanted motorist behavior.

Safe Fleet has developed advanced technology to help protect students outside the bus. The Predictive Stop Arm® (PSA) monitors oncoming traffic for probable stop arm violations and notifies students to stay back when risk is deemed present.


Deirdre O’Brien is senior content specialist for Safe Fleet. Visit www.safefleet.net for more information.