Every year at the beginning of January, we publish a brief overview of the mobile safety trends and technologies that will be on the rise in the school transportation industry in the next twelve months.
Last year, there was a lot of news about devastating accidents involving a school bus. The frequency of these stories in media indicates that safety and security are still top priorities for school transportation departments and that mobile surveillance solutions are indispensable for accident reconstruction and evidence. Keeping a finger on the pulse of the fleet also requires live video streaming, integrated routing and tracking software. These solutions can help address emergency or urgent situations, as well as prevent or solve issues of child bullying that very often happen on the school bus.
So, here are our safety predictions for 2015:
Prediction #1: For the safety of children and drivers, school transportation departments and organizations will pay more attention to prevention of bullying on the bus, by setting a special school bus code of conduct and investing in video surveillance equipment.
It’s well known, that school bus is an ideal location for bullies, since supervision is minimal and “victims” have no place to retreat. Bullying on board is dangerous for both children and the driver: it can cause physical harm and damage to the self-esteem of a child, and at the same time distract the bus driver, increasing risk of a vehicle accident. Such incidents can result in injuries to other students, motorists, and pedestrians. As a rule, children report incidences of bullying to their parents, who then complain to the school’s administration. But it’s really hard to take any action against offenders without evidence and a special set of bus rules, which provide guidance for kids, school bus drivers, and administrators on what they should do if these situations happen.
We predict that in 2015 more and more school transportation departments will be investing in the installation of mobile surveillance solutions to help record bullying incidents. These actions will be supported by setting in place a bus code of conduct to regulate student behavior on board and address issues faster and more efficiently.
To help prevent bullying, Seon launched a “No Bullies on my Bus” campaign in October 2013 and created education kits for transportation departments, school administrators, teachers, and children. As we continue our work in this direction, you can read more about our initiatives and access free resources here.
Prediction #2: School districts and organizations will install more video surveillance cameras, especially of high-definition quality.
Statistics show, that thousands of vehicles continue to illegally pass stopped school buses. In 2014, 97,000 school bus drivers in 29 states participated in the stop-arm violation survey conducted by the National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services (NASDPTS). Results were devastating: a total of 75,966 stop-arm violations were committed in a single day. NASDPTS also reported that this data points to more than 13 million violations in a 180-day school year. To provide evidence for criminal investigations in these cases, school districts need to have high-resolution cameras outside of the bus to capture key details of such infringements, including vehicle model and license plate.
In October, we published a story about an accident that happened with Clayton County bus driver Terry Pettiford. She had just dropped the children off after the volleyball game and was on her way back to the bus yard, when a red car crossed the center line and sent the bus off its track into a home. The video from Seon’s on-board windshield camera system helped prove the innocence of the driver: to avoid collision, Terry could go to the right, into the park which was full of kids, or turn left into the garage of a house, what she did. You can read the full story here.
The growing number of similar cases increases the need for video surveillance solutions with several cameras on board to show the scene from different views and angles, to record the behavior of the violator that can later serve as an evidence in the accident reconstruction. So, we predict that in 2015, there will be a significant growth in the installation of CCTV technologies with cameras of high-resolution quality.
Prediction #3: Demand will grow for integrated surveillance solutions allowing real-time vehicle tracking and live streaming.
Sometimes emergency situations happen and all that you want to know in that moment is where exactly your bus is located, who is on it, and whether you have any other vehicles around to provide assistance.
For instance, on December 3rd, 2014, school bus driver Kristine Behrman from Davenport, Florida, was driving the bus with students heading to Discovery Academy, when she noticed smoke coming from the back of the bus. She pulled over, evacuated the kids off the bus, and called 911. Fortunately, no one was hurt when in a matter of minutes the smoke turned to flames. Traffic road cameras alerted officials to send help to the bus immediately and showed which lanes needed to be shut down. (You can read the full story here.)
Imagine the same situation happening on your bus: even if the driver gave you a call, you would want instant fleet insight to address the situation immediately. With the development of mobile surveillance technology, more and more school districts and organizations invest in solutions that provide live video streaming. For example, Seon’s vMax® Live Plus system will not only pinpoint the exact location of the vehicle at the click of a button, but will also allow you to tap into a live feed of any installed bus camera in an emergency situation. As a result, it is easy to see the whole situation from the driver’s point of view and solve the issue accordingly.
These are our top 3 school bus safety trend predictions for 2015. We hope this forecast will help you ensure a safe and accident-free year ahead!
If you have any other predictions that you would like to share with other transportation industry professionals, let us know in the comments below or post your comments to our LinkedIn Discussion.
Vlada Terenina
Marketing Coordinator | Seon
vlada.terenina@seon.com
