Drivers Continue to Pass Stopped School Buses, Placing Children at Risk

MIDDLE ISLAND, N.Y., June 12, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Children entering and leaving their school buses remain at risk from vehicles that illegally pass stopped buses in the Longwood Central School District, according to results from a school bus stop arm safety camera pilot program.

Two buses in the district operated with school bus stop-arm safety cameras from Feb. 27 to May 5 and identified 59 vehicles committing stop-arm violations in 45 class days.

"These numbers are troubling," Gale Winsper, Transportation Coordinator for the district, said.

"These findings suggest that drivers in our district illegally pass our 200 school bus routes more than 24,000 times in a 180-day school year. For a child getting on or off their bus, each passing vehicle poses a potential tragedy in the making," Winsper said.

American Traffic Solutions (ATS), the largest provider of road safety cameras in North America, compiled the results from the pilot program. Along with technical support, ATS provided the district with its CrossingGuard School Bus Stop Arm Enforcement system which captures vehicles illegally passing the school bus after it has stopped and extended its stop sign.

On average, cameras captured 0.67 violations per bus per school day, which is an improvement over a similar district program with cameras on three buses last year that calculated 2.1 average violations per bus per day. A segment of program footage highlighting the shocking behavior can be viewed here: https://youtu.be/C-qxk5nn3O4.

"Without excusing any driver's reckless behavior, I believe this decrease suggests drivers respond positively to the presence of school bus stop-arm safety cameras. I am relieved to see this progress, but I know more needs to be done," Winsper said.

Longwood is not the only district facing this danger. The New York State Association for Pupil Transportation, in their latest count of vehicles illegally passing stopped school buses in a single day in 35 school districts, estimated 44,314 illegal passes in one day, or nearly 8 million passes in a school year.

"This is a real danger that needs to be addressed. In the four years ending in 2015, cars have struck 35 children in our state. Let's stop putting our children at risk. I urge all drivers to abide by the traffic laws concerning school buses," Winsper said.

About American Traffic Solutions
ATS is proud to be the market leader in road safety camera installations in North America. ATS has more than 3,500 installed school bus stop arm, red-light and speed safety cameras serving more than 30 million people. ATS Fleet Services is a leader in providing both Toll and Violation Management Solutions to fleets and rental customers saving them time and money.  For more information, please visit: www.atsol.com.

SOURCE American Traffic Solutions

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