of his more than 10,000 daily charges. Although they never intended to bring Child Check-Mate to
market, Both said, he and Lowe saw the potential after the Ot- tawa Board of Education and the Ottawa French Language Board equipped their 23 buses with the system. As the company expanded its distribution, the main chal-
lenge was to accommodate differences in vehicles as well as individual state, provincial, school board and school district requirements, he said. Child Check-Mate accomplished this task by designing a com-
pletely programmable unit that utilizes software to customize the safety system to fit a client’s specific needs. “We are very proud to have been implemented on every First
Student bus in North America — more than 60,000 buses,” Both said. “With the confidence of First Student’s vice president of safety Gary Catapano, we were able to work with him and his team to develop a system tailored to their needs.” Te introduction of the EP2 model expands the system to
receive an additional signal from the bus, allowing for more cre- ative operational functionality. It also features a voice prompt instructing the driver on the required steps of a check, making training unnecessary. A new Teft-Mate option on the EP2 introduces a motion sen-
sor that scans the bus after the driver leaves. Tis feature offers an extra layer of safety in the event a child wasn’t noticed during
the walk-through or if unauthorized entry into the bus occurs after hours. To date, Both said the company has sold more than 200,000
Child Check-Mate systems in North America and continues to sell approximately 1,000 monthly with sales increasing, as dis- tricts begin to insist on this type of safety aid.
HOW CHILD CHECK-MATE WORKS Simply, the Child Check-Mate system activates when the
eight-way overheard lights are activated — or other indications as requested by a customer that children are on board, such as the touch of the brake pedal. When a driver completes his route, he walks the length of the bus looking for stray riders before pressing the deactivation button at the rear of the vehicle, which tells the system that the check is complete. Child Check-Mate reminds drivers to do the walk-through
when the ignition is turned off. If the task is neglected, the bus horn and system alarm will trip. “We are the first to say that the system can’t look for children,”
Both said. “But what we can do is remind the driver that this job must be done, and with this we can reduce or eliminate the pos- sibility of a child being left unattended.” While Both noted that the very nature of the safety product
makes it unlikely the company will receive feedback about spe- cific incidences that are avoided, both he and Lowe are thankful
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