Walton County School District in Florida will install Gatekeeper Systems' Student Protector Program on its school bus fleet as part of a collaboration with the Walton County Sheriff's Office. The system uses cameras mounted on school buses to detect and record vehicles that illegally pass when a bus's stop arm is extended. The recorded footage can be used as evidence in the citation process.

“We are excited to be moving forward with the recent collaboration between Walton County School District, Walton County Sheriff’s Office, and Gatekeeper’s Student Protector Program,” said Dennis Grey, transportation coordinator for Walton County School District. “We believe it will be instrumental in achieving a heightened awareness of student safety when boarding and deboarding at school bus stops throughout the county. We take student safety very seriously, and we feel this is a great addition to the many practices already in place.”

The announcement comes as the latest National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services (NASDPTS) survey estimates that motorists illegally passed stopped school buses more than 38.4 million times during the 2025-26 school year.

That represents a decline from an estimated 39.3 million violations during the previous school year.

“While we are pleased to see yet another reduction in the number of illegal passings of stopped school buses, 38.4 million illegal passings is still entirely too many,” NASDPTS President Mike Stier said. “The National State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services continues to encourage each state to raise awareness on this important safety issue and to do everything possible to ensure motorists put the safety of school children first.”

Gatekeeper Updates Stop-Arm Technology

Gatekeeper said it has installed thousands of Student Protector systems since launching its SP25 dual-camera system.

“Gatekeeper is very actively working with school districts to help reduce illegal passings of stopped school buses,” said Jason Harris, Gatekeeper's vice president of Student Protector Programs. “Since our product launch of the Student Protector SP25 10-megapixel-dual-camera system in October 2018, we have installed over 5,800 Student Protector systems.”

Harris, a former transportation director, added that the company has incorporated AI into the system's architecture “to improve video evidence, license plate capture, and the overall citation process.”