Polk County Public Schools:
Polk County, we have to do better than this.
Our new Safe Stop program went live this year, and there were more than 1,400 violations … just from Aug. 15-22. There’s no reason for people to be driving this way and putting our students at risk.
Beginning Sept. 24, these violations will carry a fine of $225 apiece. Save yourselves some cash, and help us save lives.
Thank you to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office for their invaluable support for this program.
Here is a video compilation of some of the violations:
More information about the Safe Stop program from PCPS website:
Every day, over 45,000 Polk County students ride the school bus, relying on our transportation system to get them to and from school safely.
According to the National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services, more than 11,000 Florida school buses were illegally passed in just one day last year. The study also showed that Florida had more drivers passing on the right side of a bus than any other state. This behavior is incredibly dangerous, jeopardizing the safety and lives of our children.
To address this serious issue, Polk County Public Schools has partnered with the Polk County Sheriff’s Office and Verra Mobility to administer a school bus stop arm safety program, equipping 511 school buses with safety camera technology to capture evidence of illegal behavior. The goal of the program is to change reckless driving behavior and improve the safety of our students as they travel to and from school.
School bus stop arm safety programs have been extremely effective in changing driver behavior. Data from Verra Mobility has shown that 98% of people who receive a notice of violation for illegally passing a stopped school bus do not repeat their behavior. The data also showed a 12% reduction in issued violations from the beginning to the end of the school year.
Through community awareness of the law, and the implementation of the school bus stop arm safety program, drivers are more alert, pay better attention to illegal behavior, and help improve the safety of our students.
The PCPS Safe Stop enforcement program provides state-of-the-art technology to effectively capture stop arm violations.
When the stop arm is deployed, the camera automatically detects vehicles that pass the stopped school bus within the enforcement zone. When a violation occurs, the cameras record video and capture images including the vehicle, its license plate, and the extended stop arm.
The violation video and license plate images are then reviewed by law enforcement for approval, prior to a warning or violation being issued.
Step 1 | Two cameras are installed on the right side of the bus (passenger side).
Step 2 | When the bus is stopped with and offloading passengers along the curb, the right-side overview camera begins detecting vehicles using artificial intelligence/machine learning.
Step 3 | When a vehicle is detected illegally passing the right side of the bus, the ALPR camera captures the vehicle and its license plate. The system generates a data package, including still photos, the overview video, and metadata (GPS and time/date)
Rules of the road:
