DRIVING THE INDUSTRY SINCE 1991
bus, similar to the Ohio motorist ordered by a judge to hold up an “idiot” sign several days last November for driving on the side- walk to pass a stopped school bus, he said. Te North Carolina count showed that 1,449 passing violations occurred in the morning, 92 mid-day and 1,775 in the af- ternoon — for a total of 3,316 incidents. In 2012, 13,696 drivers reported they tracked 2,308 violations. “We do have more and more districts that
are putting stop-arm cameras on their bus- es,” Graham said. “But we’re still a long way from the general public being aware of the problem … “I’m not sure drivers are making a conscious decision to pass the school bus. I think they’re just not paying attention.” Transportation Director Cindy Stei-
gerwald of the Mukilteo (Wash.) School District disagrees now that she has actually viewed video footage of illegal passings as part of a pilot program launched last spring. Te department is currently using video cameras by American Traffic Solutions (ATS) on two full-sized, regular-education buses, Steigerwald said. “You lose touch when you’re not in the
driver’s seat about how blatant (violators) are,” she shared. “I think there is a public per- ception that people get distracted, but when you watch it, it appears people are making a conscious decision to drive past the bus.” Maurice Harris at First Student said
stop-arm cameras are utilized by some of their school district customers but are not widely deployed across the nation. “While stop arm cameras provide a glimpse of cars that pass the arm on the driver’s side of the bus, they unfortunately do not capture all infractions, such as the extremely dangerous practice of passing the
STEFFI CROSSER REFLECTIVE GLOVE GAINING POPULARITY WITH ORDERS ACROSS THE COUNTRY In addition to a new public awareness campaign on safe driving at school bus
stops, Anderson School District Five in South Carolina is pilot testing the Steffi Cross- er, an invention of New York school bus driver Victoria Pierce DeCarlo that is gaining in popularity nationwide. Pierce DeCarlo has driven a school bus for Lake Shore CSD in Angola, N.Y. for two decades. She like many school bus drivers is concerned about illegal passing incidents, especially during early-morning and late-afternoon routes. School bus drivers in New York State are required to use a universal crossing signal to waive students to and from the bus as well as to give a danger signal. The ability for Pierce DeCarlo’s students to see her hand motions became espe- cially difficult at a particular three-way intersection, Steffi Drive at Herr Road, be- cause of windshield glare. So she took apart an old safety vest to construct a highly reflective glove to improve visibility, and soon all her fellow drivers were wearing one. Now, school bus drivers all across New York and in 29 other states are using the Stef- fi. And more, like Anderson Five, are testing the glove. David Poag, the district’s opera- tions and routing supervisor, said it didn’t take long for drivers to grasp its importance. “I spoke with a high school bus rider … about the Steffi,” he shared. “She told me
the Steffi really helps her to see the driver’s crossing signal, especially in the dark mornings and also in the bright (afternoons).”
£ New York school bus driver Victoria Pierce DeCarlo (pictured), who invented the Steffi Crosser to help student riders better see universal hand signals to safely cross the street, has filled orders for districts in Alabama, Pennsylvania, and Washington state, to name a few.
States Participating in the 2013 NASDPTS Survey of Stop-Arm Violations
Alabama Arkansas California Colorado Delaware Florida Georgia Iowa Idaho Illinois
Indiana Kansas Maryland Michigan Minnesota Missouri Montana* North Carolina Nevada Ohio
Oklahoma* Oregon South Carolina Tennessee* Texas Virginia Washington West Virginia Wyoming
*First-time survey participants outlined in red.
www.stnonline.com 15
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