School Bus Stop Arm Pilot Results Show Cause for Concern in Volusia County

DELAND, Fla., June 1, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Results from the Volusia County School District School Bus Stop Arm Pilot confirm that a shocking number of drivers are illegally passing stopped school buses when the stop arm is extended and children are boarding or disembarking.  During a 29 day pilot period, cameras on just one of the county's 229 buses captured a total of 71 violations.  The pilot results also showed that eight out of every 10 violations occurred between 1:00pm and 3:00pm with 67% of the violations occurring on either Tuesday or Wednesday of each week. Under the pilot agreement, events were captured, but not issued.

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"Our goal was to measure how many drivers disregard stopped school buses with the stop arm extended and illegally pass them," said Greg Akin, Director of Transportation for Volusia County School District. "Keeping our children safe is our number one priority and we want to change driver behavior in a positive way to protect the lives of the children who ride a school bus to and from school every day."

American Traffic Solutions (ATS), the nation's leader in road safety camera technology, provided Volusia County School District with CrossingGuard®, ATS' new camera technology to help monitor the extent of the problem.  Designed to monitor and enforce traffic around a stopped school bus, CrossingGuard® is powered by AngelTrax's IntelliGuard cameras mounted on the driver's side of the school bus.  When the school bus extends its stop arm, the system automatically detects if a vehicle passes the stopped school bus within the enforced zone.  High-quality violation images of a vehicle's license plate and a video that captures the entire violation event provide law enforcement the evidence they need to effectively prosecute these violations.

It's estimated that school buses are passed illegally 8,900 times every day statewide, putting the safety of millions of children in jeopardy.  The Volusia School District is one of six statewide participating in this pilot program aimed at reducing violators and keeping children safe.

About American Traffic Solutions:

ATS is proud to be the market leader in road safety camera installations in North America. ATS has more than 3,000 installed red-light and speed safety cameras serving more than 30 million people. ATS is the largest road safety camera program service provider in North America with awards or contracts with nearly 300 local jurisdictions in 21 states and Washington, D.C. ATS Currently operates more than 70 red-light safety camera programs in Florida including, Orlando, Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Tampa, St. Petersburg and more.  For more information, please visit us online at www.atsol.com

ATS Contact: Charles Territo           School Contact: Greg Akin
Phone: (480) 443-7000                    Phone: (386) 258-4677 Extension 50544
Email: [email protected]                Email: [email protected]

SOURCE American Traffic Solutions