School Bus Stop Arm Cameras

Summary ► ► Vehicles passing stopped school buses continues to be a problem, despite various attempts at deterrence ► ► Stop arm cameras are a solution that will capture violations and improve student safety ► ► Program is at no cost to the County, and there may be a small amount of revenue

National Violation Statistics ► ► NASDPTS conducted studies in 2011, 2012   2011 study ► ► 112,000 buses in 28 states ► ► Over 76,000 violations occurred in a single day   2012 study ► ► 99,000 buses in 28 states ► ► Over 88,000 violations occurred in a single day ► ► If these are representative, nearly 16 million violations occur in a school year!

Virginia Violation Statistics ► ► Virginia participated in the NASDPTS study   2011 results ► ► 455 buses studied ► ► 449 vehicles passed stopped buses ► ► 10 passes occurred on the right (door) side   2012 results ► ► 21 buses studied ► ► 13 vehicles passed stopped buses

Local Violation Statistics ► ► ACPS Transportation works closely with ACPD ► ► Mechanism in place for drivers to report passing incidents to ACPD   49 violations reported in   73 violations reported in   46 violation reported YTD (12/06/2012)

Overview of Current Process ► ► Requires driver to divert attention from students   Difficult to obtain all information needed to cite   Drivers may have to miss work for court ► ► Labor intensive   Driver writes report   ACPD reviews and issues citation/summons   All parties must appear in court

Overview of Stop Arm Cameras ► ► Sealed, contained camera unit mounted on outside of bus ► ► Hard drive recording device installed inside the bus ► ► Stop arm activation turns on camera ► ► Any incidents of passing are recorded and uploaded to data center using 4G cellular ► ► Data center processes video and sends clip to ACPD for confirmation

Examples of the Devices

Violations and Fees ► ► Confirmed violations sent back to data center ► ► Vendor prepares summons and sends to violator ► ► Violator has option to pay $250 fee or come to court (only 1% challenged nationally) ► ► Program is violator funded, and residual revenue reverts to locality   ACPD costs for certifying violations   ACPS receives remaining funds (school buses?)

Next Steps ► ► Redflex (same vendor used for intersection cameras) has offered to conduct a pilot study at no cost, with no obligation   City of Charlottesville is already conducting one ► ► Local ordinance allowing photo enforcement will need to be passed by BOS per §