A new partnership with BusPatrol America and Putnam County was announced last week, to launch a new program to safeguard students and tackle illegal school bus passings.
The new agreement enables all six school districts within Putnam to deploy BusPatrol’s turnkey stop-arm safety solution across their entire fleets at no cost to taxpayers. This includes automated stop-arm cameras to detect the license plate numbers of vehicles that fail to stop for school buses.
In addition, school districts can take advantage internal cameras to monitor dangerous activity onboard the bus.
The program is entirely and exclusively funded by violators over a five-year term.
“The safety of our kids’ is always going to be a priority,” said Putnam County Executive Kevin Byrne. “The opportunity to implement a program at no cost to taxpayers that protects students made this an obvious partnership to develop. We are taking proactive steps to protect our children and hold irresponsible drivers accountable for their actions.”
The Putnam County School Bus Safety Program will be preceded by a robust education and awareness campaign to remind motorists about the school bus safety traffic laws.
“Our children deserve a safe journey to and from school and this program will help make that a reality,” said Mary Smith, Patterson Town Board member and Traffic Safety Advisory Board member. “This program reinforces our commitment to protecting students and by leveraging innovative technology, we are sending a strong message that the safety is our priority.”
BusPatrol has reported extraordinary success in counties throughout New York State, including Albany, Dutchess, Rensselaer and Rockland County.
“This public-private partnership is a win-win for student safety,” said Steve Randazzo, executive vice president at BusPatrol. “Putnam County is taking a huge step forward to enhance road safety and ensure every child travels safely to school. This program will hold irresponsible drivers accountable for jeopardizing the well-being of our children and provide a safer ride to and from school for the 13,200 students in Putnam County.”
The National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services estimates that 43.5 million vehicles illegally pass stopped school buses annually in the U.S. In New York, there are an estimated 50,000 illegal school bus passings each school day.
Drivers are reminded to be cautious when driving around school buses and always stop for a stopped school bus with its red lights flashing and stop-arm deployed.
For more information about BusPatrol, go to https://buspatrol.com.