School Bus Stop Arm School Bus Stop Arm PassingsPassings

School Bus Stop Arm Passings: A National Disgrace

Derek GrahamState Director, North CarolinaNC Department of Public Instruction

History

The Florida 1-Day Count - 199610,590 Vehicles passing 3,427 Buses

4% on the RIGHT side! (same % in North Carolina)

Documented direction of travel, time of day, type of road, type of vehicle, etc

Florida Community Focus Groups

Parents, law enforcement, school folks

Pointed to three issues low enforcement Lack of knowledge regarding bus signals lack of knowledge of when vehicles are

required to stop

Awareness in Florida

Public Service AnnouncementsToll Free HOTLINE for reporting

violationsEducation and Awareness

NHTSA Grants - 1998

Offered up to four grants to implement strategies for reducing stoparm violations

Pinellas County, FLWill County, IL3 County Area, NCUniv. of South FL - continued research

Will County (IL) Operation S.A.V.E.

Stop Arm Violation EnforcementIllinois State Police

Penalty in Illinois

$150 fine3 months driver license suspension

for 1st convictionrecorded on driver’s record

NHTSA Grant

Expand efforts of State Police, local police, school bus drivers to arrest and secure effective prosecution

3 enforcement techniques Bus garage radio frequencies on police

cars Plain-clothes officers following buses Driver complaints filed on redesigned

forms

Education/Awareness

PSAs on local radioPSAs on local cablePresentations (PTO, etc)Presentations to Citizen Police

Training Classes

Results

Preparing a comprehensive training manual

Cases tracked through this program resulted in a conviction charge for stop-arm violation charge rather than reduced charges or dismissals

Renewed interest of bus drivers in reporting IMPROVED DRIVER MORALE!

Lessons Learned - Awareness

Education teaches more than citations People read newspapers &react to mediaBusiness owners happy to assistSomeone skilled in dealing with media

should be present at media eventsMessage boards are not welcome in some

towns and many rules applyPlanning is critical - don’t wait til the last minute

Lessons Learned - Enforcement

Stationary patrols in unmarked cars at hot spots can be effective

Any witness vehicle will deter violatorsOn-site arrests makes prosecution easier

reduces number of witnessesEffective tracking and prosecution results in a

true picture of violationsPatrol techniques seldom yield a true pictureSeverity of penalty in Illinois is makes tracking

difficult

Pinellas County, FL

Clearwater, Tampa BayNHTSA Grant for enforcement

Clearwater Police DepartmentHow to best target random events?

Speed enforcement around bus stops and school zones

240 4-hour blocks

Difficulty with Enforcement

Bus enforcement not as easy as it sounds

Officers could be blocked if not in the right position for monitoring.

Press event - scheduled press to ride bus with officers Not a single violation captured by the

media

Public EducationPromoted Florida DOE’s pass report

tiplinePosted artwork on mass transit busesVideo on Cable Access ChannelNext Generation Network produced

computer ads displayed in gov’t buildings and retail outlets

Tip Card - Bookmark

More Public Education

Clearwater MagazineVariable Message BoardsSchool bus and large poster at Safety

Seat and Bicycle SafetyPoster Contests - Day camps and

summer schoolsBarney the School Bus - local malls

and special events

Problems and Successes

Problems trying to establish a baselineProblems conducting multi-agency

operations (lost mutual aid agreement)Successful public awareness - Next

Generation Network & Disney Radio; bookmark distribution thru local businesses

Unable to get project partners to contribute $

Clearwater Police - RESULTS!!!

1997- 36 citations1998 - 49 citations1999 - 358 citationsImprovements in getting bus drivers

to report violations - follow-up

Center for Urban Transp. Research, Univ. of South FL

Did the original quantification of the problem in Florida in May, 1995

In 2000, CUTR did a follow-up study to determine the effect of efforts since 1995

Number of violations slightly increased More aggressive driving More buses More drivers

Recommendations: Local

Formation and participation of Community Traffic Safety Team committees Focus on enforcement and education Get wide representation Implement practical and effective

countermeasuresContinue Enforcement Blitzes

TEXAS - TxDOT Grant to UTHSCSA

University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio

3 year project beginning 1999

– source: School Transportation Director

Project Activity

Develop an information campaign publicizing the “illegal passer” program

Establish toll free numberCoordination with local PDDistribute brochure to “illegal

passers”

Project Activity

Corporate Contributions Billboards ($15k value for $4k) *BUS on GTE Radio PSA

1,876 license numbers reportedMany calls asking for info on the law

Identified confusion on the school bus stop law

Stoparm Activityin North Carolina

1996 Report on Florida stoparm study at NAPT

Within 2 weeks a car passed a stopped school bus in Davidson County, NC injuring two students

We knew that it was a problem for North Carolina as well as Florida - this drove it home!

Stop Arm Violation Task Force Department of Public Instruction Guilford County SchoolsWake County SchoolsWilson County SchoolsGovernor’s Highway Safety ProgramHighway PatrolInstitute for Transportation Research and

Education (ITRE)Division of Motor Vehicles

Data Gathering - First Statewide Count

April 15, 1997: 114 districts - nearly 13,000 buses

2,636 ViolationsStatewide each Spring since

Data gathering is very important Annual count - 1500-2100 violations

reported for 10,000-13,000 buses

NHTSA Project

Concentrate on a 3-county areaOnslow, Pender and New Hanover

Counties Onslow, New Hanover - high number of

violationsEndorsed by DMV, Public Schools,

Highway Patrol, etc.

Kickoff Meeting - Sept. 1998

All key agencies involvedMost important outcomes:

Law enforcement not convinced that the data were valid

Questions about bus driver use of the stop arm

LESSONS LEARNED - The kickoff meeting is not the best time to find out that you don’t have buy-in from stakeholders

Time and Motion Study

Using an external video camera, ITRE staff validated claims of improper equipment use

STOP EVERYTHING!! More Driver Training Needed

Distance from amber to red

Bus Velociy as S.A Deployed

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35

Stop Sequence

Bu

s V

elo

cit

yDistance from Amber to Red

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35

Stop Sequence

Bus velocity as stoparm deployed

Produced by

NCDPI

ITRE

Funded by NHTSA

Daily Stop Arm Violations Reported

April 15, 1997 - 61April 27, 1998 - 40Daily average, week of 10/12/98 -

22.6 (AFTER bus driver training)

The Plan for Technology

Utilize the Transportation Information Management System (TIMS) Statewide system of computer-assisted

routing and scheduling all bus stops in the school district are in

the computer map database by addressGenerate maps of reported incidences

for use by law enforcement

NC Law Enforcement Stop Arm Violations GIS Map

January 10, 2000

Legend

VIOLATIONS

STREET NAMES

CITY LIMIT

NC Law Enforcement Stop Arm Violations GIS Map

January 11, 2000

Legend

VIOLATIONS

STREET NAMES

CITY LIMIT

NC Law Enforcement Stop Arm Violations GIS Map

January 12, 2000

VIOLATIONS

Legend

STREET NAMES

CITY LIMIT

VIOLATIONS

Legend

STREET NAMES

CITY LIMIT

NC Law Enforcement Stop Arm Violations GIS Map

January 13, 2000

NC Law Enforcement Stop Arm Violations GIS Map

Week of January 10th thru 13th 2000

Legend

VIOLATIONS

STREET NAMES

CITY LIMIT

Operation Stop Arm - Onslow, Pender, New Hanover

Stepped up enforcement - Grant paid for Trooper Overtime

Press conference to describe what we were getting ready to do

Displayed the bus-mounted camera

Operation Stop Arm -Onslow, Pender, New Hanover

Little media responseTV in one location; newspaper only in

the other

Operation Stop Arm -Onslow, Pender, New Hanover

Several traffic violations citedFew if any school bus passings

observedData maps not generally used

Finally - RESULTS!!

Video was the tool to let school folks and law enforcement see what was actually happening

State trooper assigned to field reported violations

Camera-related citations have resulted in guilty pleas (even if to a lesser charge)

Results - not everywhere!

The reductions seen in Onslow County were not seen in the other counties

Valuable Insights

Involve key agencies before startingTraining of bus driversGather data to identify problem areasMake use of technologyRelationship with law enforcementRemember that data? Make sure it is good

and share it with law enforcementPublic awareness is effective

Key to Success in Onslow County

Transportation Director Jeff SmithTrooper R.A. Hood

Winston-Salem, NC - Dalton Folwell

2nd Grade Student son of School Board Member

Waiting for the bus on a tree-lined street

Crossed the street when he saw the busStruck and killed by motorist from out-

of-country driving on an international driver’s license

Local Task Force

DA’s officeJudgesLaw EnforcementSchool Transportation DepartmentAdded Cameras

State-Level InitiativesPublic Awareness

Getting the Word Out - The Role of the Media

Television AdvertisingRadio AdvertisingEXPENSIVE

Can’t do it - or can’t do it alone

The Alltel Partnership

North Carolina News Network - 85 affiliate stations across NC

$40,000 + spent by Alltel$8,000 spent by state

Ad in North Carolina Magazine

Dateline NBC

Look for a feature in SeptemberCameras on buses -

Violation caught on tape!!