think of in regard to students against other students, where parents will call in and make a complaint…What’s really awesome about that is we can actually pull the video,” he said, add- ing that audio is included. He said the cameras protect the


bus drivers if a student accusation is found to be false and the internal cameras also help with accidents in the form of liability. The cameras show the actions taken by the bus driver prior to the crash and confirms who is at fault. It will also confirm student injuries, a benefit when nav- igating insurance claims of multiple students claiming injury, he added.


Connected Technologies At the Bus Technology Summit


Labs during STN EXPO East in March, companies expressed the benefits of all their technology offerings work- ing together seamlessly. For instance, Tyler Technologies performed an immersive demonstration of field trip software, which can be accessed at the teacher level, maintenance, routing and RFID card software integrate with one another. Plus, representatives showed how all of this is viewable on tablets. Giving customers a one-stop solu-


tion provides fleet consistency and smoother operations. Lori Jetha, vice president of mar-


keting at Safe Fleet, explained that systems that don’t integrate result in finger pointing. “If you’re working with multi-


ple vendors with technologies that weren’t built to talk to each other, then you don’t have that chain of evidence. You don’t have that control. And a lot of systems just don’t talk well and don’t play well together,” she explained. “Our approach has really


been to make technology that solves real world problems, that works well together and doesn’t put that burden on the school district.” She noted that Safe Fleet’s Illegal


Passing Suite includes stop-arm vio- lation enforcement, predicative stop arm, illuminated stop arm, driver alert device, and danger zone around vehi- cle monitor system. “What we aim to do is ultimately


build a safety umbrella around the bus,” said Julian Jimenez, senior product manager at Safe Fleet. “And how we’re accomplishing that is by using different types of technology… It means to have technologies that are both proactive as well as evidentiary to be able to detect not only vehi- cles that may be potentially striking a child or being in that danger zone, but alerting children of that specific moment so they don’t run into a dan- gerous situation. And also employing other technologies to record incidents to curb bad behavior, such in the case of stop arm enforcement, but also to help gather data and video to help school districts make better decisions on routing and better decisions over- all and how they operate.” Washington’s Elkins added that the


district’s AngelTrax cameras are Wi- Fi equipped with GPS, which allows transportation to pull videos when the buses are in the yard or at a school location. He said this helps to locate missing students to verify if they were dropped off at school. “The huge benefit [of connected technology] is safety: Safety of the students, safety of the driver and safe- ty of the district for liability,” he said. “But ultimately, the whole purpose of [purchasing] video [cameras] and SmartTag was for the safety of the stu- dents. That was the whole purpose.” ●


Cor’Darius “Mr. Bus Driver” Jones, school bus driver at Escambia Coun- ty School District in Florida, said he believes dual stop-arms with an extended stop arm should be standard. “The number one


reason motorists give when pass- ing by a stopped school bus is, ‘I didn’t see the bus stopped.’ The more visible we are, the safer we make it for the children load- ing and unloading the bus,” he said, adding that the stop arm is getting an upgrade with options to now illuminate the entire arm and sign.


Not only is it important for technologies to talk to each other within the vehicle, but one company is citing the importance of technology speaking to external factors such as other vehicles and even stop lights. Read more about vehicle to everything technology discussed at STN EXPO East at stnonline.com/go/m7.


50 School Transportation News • MAY 2025


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