Virginia District to Add Stop Arm, Safety Tech to School Buses

Chesapeake Public Schools will equip more than 500 of its buses with new safety technology, which will include BusPatrol's stop-arm cameras and Zonar’s smart fleet technology.

Sadiah Thompson・Assistant Editor

February 20, 2020

Virginia District to Add Stop Arm, Safety Tech to School Buses — Chesapeake (Va.) Public Schools will equip more than 500 of its buses with new safety technology, which will include stop-arm cameras and Zonar’s smart fleet technology. Photo courtesy BusPatrol

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Chesapeake (Va.) Public Schools will equip more than 500 of its buses with new safety technology, which will include stop-arm cameras and Zonar’s smart fleet technology. Photo courtesy BusPatrol

CHESAPEAKE, Va. — A school district here is adding new technology to its buses to make the school bus ride safer for students.

Chesapeake Public Schools is partnering with BusPatrol Inc. to equip more than 500 of its buses with new safety technology, which will include stop-arm cameras and Zonar's smart fleet technology, according to a news release from BusPatrol.

The smart fleet technology from Zonar will include Electronic Verified Inspection Reporting (EVIR); high-definition GPS fleet tracking with live delivery of vehicle performance, subsystem, and diagnostic information in one device (V4); Samsung Tab Active 2 tablets; and Ground Traffic Control web-based software, a spokesperson for Zonar told School Bus Fleet.

“We are thrilled to be implementing our safety tech solutions in Chesapeake,” said Jean Souliere, CEO of BusPatrol. “This will be the first community to benefit from our new exclusive partnership with Zonar that will allow parents and caretakers to be brought closer to kids as they travel to and from school.”

Over the next few months, every school bus in the Chesapeake fleet will be equipped with safety technology from BusPatrol and Zonar. In addition to stop-arm cameras, BusPatrol will install and implement sideload, interior, and rearview cameras, as well as DVR, GPS, telemetry, and cellular connectivity technology, according to the supplier. Ticket processing for stop-arm violations and program management will reportedly be handled by BusPatrol at no cost to Chesapeake.

BusPatrol will work with school district officials and local law enforcement to determine route planning, redistricting, fleet maintenance, real-time analysis, and financial analytics. The company will also team up with the Chesapeake community and use data to mitigate ongoing safety risks that students face on Virginia’s roads.

In other recent news, BusPatrol completed a pilot project with a Pennsylvania district to install stop-arm cameras on two of its buses. During a 47-day period, the cameras identified a total of 205 illegal passing incidents.

Topics:stop-arm running/illegal passing Virginia Safety

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