October 21 – 25 marks this year’s National School Bus Safety Week, and Verra Mobility has launched a free toolkit to help communities keep kids safe.

This year’s theme is “Zero In on School Bus Safety” and Verra Mobility is highlighting the importance of stopping illegal school bus passings. Reports from the National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation show that the number of illegal passings has jumped to 45.2 million from last year.

When school buses are parked, drivers that ignore the flashing lights and stop arms put children at risk as they enter or exit the bus.

Raising Awareness About Illegal Passings

School buses are the safest way for kids to get to and from school, and Verra Mobility's toolkit will help raise awareness about safe driving practices around school buses.

The toolkit includes ready-made social media posts to help districts spread the word about School Bus Safety Week and encourage safe driving behavior. To back up these messages, statistics about the dangers of illegal passing are included as well.

In order to help get people’s attention, the toolkit also includes videos showing actual violations that show the dangers to children.

Putting a Stop to Passings

Beyond awareness campaigns, Verra Mobility also offers a school bus stop arm program that utilizes cameras to automatically detect vehicles that illegally pass a stopped bus. The technology both discourages dangerous driving and helps hold violators accountable.

When a bus stops and extends it’s stop arm, the camera will activate. Any vehicle that passes the bus is recorded on video, showing the license plate and the extended stop arm.

Studies have shown that this program is highly effective. Verra Mobility reports a 98% reduction in repeat violations, and some programs can see a 70% decrease in citations issued over the course of a school year.

With these tools, Verra Mobility is working to help make sure every child arrives at school safely.

You can download the toolkit here.