S T U D E N T S A F E T Y S O L U T I O N S
A Day in the Life of a School Bus
By H . Kevin Mest
Every year school buses transport over 23.5 million children to and from school while traveling over 4 billion miles According to the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration , students are about 70 times more likely to get to school safely on a school bus rather than traveling by car . A lot goes into making the school bus safe – from the intelligent safety design and technology involved , to the transportation departments drivers and attendents who take the children to and from school . While transportation directors and drivers are committed to the safety of the children they transport , they are not always aware of the solutions that can be easily integrated into current processes to aid them in that mission . To better understand this , let us take a look at the day in the life of a school bus and how these safety technologies can be leveraged every day .
Pre-Trip Inspections and Trip Monitoring It all starts in the bus yard . First , drivers need to complete a pre-trip inspection of the bus they will be driving to ensure that everything is in working order . Ideally , this inspection is conducted electronically and can be verified . This
electronic verification ensures that all inspection zones on the bus are checked , there is a digital record of the inspection , and transportation directors know their drivers are doing the inspections properly every day . The inspection data can also be integrated into the bus shop ’ s maintenance software to help ensure that every bus is properly maintained and ready to go at the start of every day . Once inspections are complete and the bus is ready from a safety , compliance , and operational perspective , students are likely making their way out to their respective bus stops . Transportation departments can leverage telematics boxes that are enabled with GPS , to track the school bus along its route and monitor any potential diagnostic issues with a bus . These devices come standard on the Thomas Built buses and are pre-wired for Blue Bird and International buses . In the event that an engine issue should happen , the transportation department can then determine if the bus can continue on its route safely or if immediate action is needed to send a replacement bus .
The Bus Stop When the bus does arrive at a stop , and the stop arm deploys , many buses now leverage
stop-arm camera safety programs . This . This automatically records video of vehicles that pass school buses illegally . Additionally , these programs issue the citation to the motorists with funds offsetting district ' s entire school bus technology safety programs . But the benefits do not stop there . Drivers that receive violations rarely , if ever , repeat their mistake , making our roads and school bus stops safer than ever going forward .
After the stop-arm deploys and it is safe to board , students can swipe RFID cards with their ridership information . The swiping of these card records when and where the student boards the bus , which is then transmitted to the transportation department and the driver ' s dashboard mounted tablet . This creates an electronic student roster to help ensure that the student is getting on the right bus at the right stop . This all happens in seconds , speeding the process to prevent the driver from having to manually carry a stack of paper rosters , allowing the bus to stay on-time with all stops along the route . This RFID card swipe process can also have additional benefits by helping in contact tracing should a child become ill .
The Trip Back Home After school , much of the same process takes place . Students navigate the sea of school buses but scan their RFID cards when boarding their bus . The driver uses the student data transferred to their tablet to verify that the student is on the right bus . A notification is sent to that student ' s parent or caregiver letting them know that their child has boarded their scheduled bus home . Parents and caregivers can continue to track the bus to their child ' s stop allowing them to best plan for pick-ups or have peace of mind that their child got home safely . At each student ' s afternoon stop , they again scan their RFID card when exiting the bus . The driver uses the information from the card to make sure that students are getting off the bus at the right stop . Parents also receive notifications on their phones alerting them that their student has gotten off the bus at their stop . This exchange of custody of children is critical to safe school bus operations . Too often , students get off at the wrong stop , causing parents ' worry and panic about their child ' s whereabouts . Instead , this can be easily avoided through the simple use of an RFID card .
Post-Trip Inspections After the school bus driver completes their trip from dropping off students , they still need to do a post-trip inspection . A critical part of this process that is sometimes required but should always be followed as a best
practice is ensuring that no child is left on the bus . By adding an alarm system or electronically verifiable check-in process to the back of the bus , transportation departments and school bus drivers can ensure that no student will accidentally get left on a bus , possibly in a bus yard . Tragically , this does occur and has led to legislation to help eliminate the events like California ' s Paul Lee Law . So why don ' t more districts adopt these core technologies to ensure the safe transportation of students to and from school ? Well , most have some technology onboard their buses but there is opportunity to obtain more to ensure safer rides for students and drivers . For example , there are stop-arm program incentives in particular states that cover the cost of technology adoption . There are also numerous grants available , including ones from
NAPT and
Zonar . Now , under the Biden administration , funds have been allocated to schools under the
American Rescue Plan .
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