STOP-ARM SAFETY FORUM
PUTTING SAFETY FIRST : SCHOOL DISTRICTS MUST GO “ BEYOND ENFORCEMENT ”
By Jean Souliere
Drivers illegally pass stopped school buses more than 17 million times a year in the US . BusPatrol aims to reduce this number to zero with its no-cost school bus safety programs . Jean Souliere , CEO of BusPatrol , explains how school districts can overcome financial barriers that prohibit them from adopting the latest school bus safety technology , and how school officials can proactively improve student safety across their entire fleets with no capital outlay .
A model to encourage adoption & accessibility
When we first embarked on our mission to make school buses safer for students everywhere , we knew we had to create a program that was accessible to all and offered at zero cost . Due to limited budgets and underfunding , many school districts cannot afford to provide children in the jurisdictions they oversee with the best possible safety technology across entire fleets . School transportation departments are often forced to choose between efficiency and safety when evaluating new tools to help them manage their fleets . We asked ourselves , how can we make the biggest impact in communities with the advanced technology we were developing when not all buses could be equipped ? How could we ensure that all children in America have access to the same safety benefits ? At BusPatrol , we believe that all students have the right to optimum safety - whatever the cost . We decided to flip the problem on its head and solve the efficiency versus safety puzzle by creating a unique business model . Through our violator-funded business model , even before a single ticket is issued , we are able to equip entire school bus fleets with advanced safety technology at zero cost to municipalities , school districts , and taxpayers . This means that the drivers that blow past your school bus and put your students ’ lives at risk are the ones that pay for the technology that protects them . This revenue is also put towards education and PSA campaigns , to further improve road safety in communities .
What are the benefits of equipping school buses with automated stop-arm enforcement technology ?
By wiring a bus to build evidence packages , you have also cloudenabled your school bus . This means it can act as a data collection engine that can power important applications to automate other aspects of student transportation . The cloud connectivity infrastructure allows for all kinds of integrations and data sharing that school officials can use to modernize the way they manage their fleet . At our company , we partner with industry leaders such as Samsung , AT & T , FirstNet , Zonar , BusPlanner , and Transfinder to offer school districts access to the latest safety technology at zero cost . This includes parent apps , turn-by-turn navigation , cloud-connected safety cameras , remote video retrieval and livestreaming , push-to-talk technology , route planning and smart fleet management tools . Why should the vehicle that delivers your pizza have better technology than the vehicle that transports 50 children to school ? Children are the most precious cargo , and they deserve the most advanced safety technology out there .
Full-Fleet Coverage - access to analytics to make data-driven decisions
More than just modernizing school buses , we want to empower student transportation officials to act proactively not reactively ; to make informed decisions that protect students before they ’ ve even stepped foot on the bus .” Once implemented , our programs give student transportation departments access to valuable insights and analytics that can be used to make data-driven decisions . Schools that implement additional technology can use the data from stop-arm violations , route planning and route execution solutions to make more informed decisions and improve safety for their students . Due to substitution of school buses , to ensure the data you capture is complete and accurate , you need to equip every single bus in your school district ’ s fleet . Not just the 20 percent of buses that witness the most violations , but every single bus . This also ensures that every student is protected .
Jean Souliere is CEO and founder of BusPatrol . To learn more about how you can modernize your entire fleet with BusPatrol to improve school bus safety in your school district go to
https :// www . buspatrol . com /
18 | SCHOOL-BUSRIDE . COM | FEBRUARY 2021