SCHOOL BUS STOP ARM SAFETY

Drivers who disobey school bus stop arms are a frequent danger to the safety of school-aged children. Nearly 26 million students ride school buses daily in the United States, getting on and off buses roughly 20 billion times throughout the year. According to the NASDPTS 2019 survey, an estimated 17 million drivers will illegally pass school buses while their stop arms are deployed this year, putting countless children in serious danger as they travel to and from school each day.

School bus stop arm cameras help to enforce school bus passing laws while drivers focus on keeping their young passengers safe. In fact, the presence of cameras on school buses has helped to reduce the prevalence of illegal passing. More than 131,000 school bus drivers reported that 95,494 vehicles illegally passed their school buses on a single day.

Furthermore, automated traffic enforcement has helped to improve driver behavior near school buses. Across the country, 99 percent of drivers who received and paid one ticket for illegally passing a school bus did not receive a second. In short, the cameras are not only enforcing a law that is difficult to police, they are keeping drivers from committing dangerous acts again.