Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida – The company behind school bus stop devices has unveiled new technology designed to accurately detect and deter violations to ensure the safety of students riding on buses.
Safe Fleet unveiled the new technology at a national launch event in Ponte Vedra Beach on Sunday morning.
School safety officials said it’s not uncommon to see cars driving right by school bus stop signs.
“You want to know what keeps us up at night? That’s it,” said Osceola County School Bus Transportation Deputy Director Randy Wheeler.
In fact, according to the National Association of State Pupil Transportation Services Directors, approximately 250,000 accidents occur on an average school day.
These figures have prompted companies like Safe Fleet to try and find a solution.
“Today we are introducing our product into the student transportation lawful passing suite, which we’re calling the SAVES ‘Stop Arm Violation Enforcement System,’ and it essentially uses the latest technology, computer vision, machine learning and advanced AI and analytics to detect when a vehicle illegally passes a stopped school bus,” said Mike Hagan, senior vice president at Safe Fleet.
With other systems, the bus driver would have to see a car go by and then push a button on the dashboard to enforce it by reviewing the video after the fact, but with this system, it happens automatically.
The system is being tested in Osceola County, where Wheeler helps manage the technology needed to get kids to school.
He said more than 500 violations have already been found on just three buses since December.
“As a school bus operator, this is frightening because it potentially puts all of the kids that we have collected on the side of the road at risk,” Wheeler said. “The stop enforcement system is an opportunity to make some corrections to driver behavior, and of course the ultimate goal is to improve student safety.”
Osceola, Collier, Lee, Alachua and Flagler counties have committed to using the SAVES system in their school districts.
Safe Fleet said it hopes more companies across the state and nation will follow suit.
Florida legislation requires school districts to give back any money they make from tickets to the districts, and Safe Fleet said the money will go towards the costs of installing the systems.
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