Florida ranks second in the US for a fatal school bus accident.
The Florida Department of Education reports that more than 11,000 illegal passages occur daily.
A report released by the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles showed hundreds of school bus stop violations and thousands of speeding instances in the school zone.
[RELATED STORY: Study Reveals Nearly 10,000 Speeding Violations in Jacksonville School Zones]
In Duval County, there are about 15 students who have been attacked by vehicles. Three people have died.
“Jacksonville is one of the worst areas for pedestrian safety in Florida,” said Melody Boldook, a member of Duval’s Board of Education. “Nationwide, we are horrifying about the safety of not only children but pedestrians.”
Bolduc also said several meetings are ongoing to address this issue and consider ways to address safety routes.
Duval school officials are promoting a “safe and seeable” campaign to mitigate accidents. The program is supported by Sheriff TK Waters and should also get support from the local city council.
The move to make roads safer during school hours has also attracted attention from the state legislature.
“This is our main concern. We are reassessing the routes as we are watching. Can we maintain all of these routes? And we are considering consolidating the routes and coming up with more hubs, Bolduc said.
Can districts consider using AI, cameras or technology to analyze dangerous spots along school bus routes?
Bolduc says there was no major discussion about the issue, but he said there is a company called Buspatrol, which is supported by local lawmakers like Florida Rep. Kiyan Michael.
Once the school bus is stopped and its lights and stop arms are activated, the bus patrol camera captures incidents involving vehicles passing illegally through the bus. Through cloud computing, data is sent to BusPatrol’s AlertBus platform. Safety experts can help you prepare evidence packages for law enforcement approval.
School officials meet with the company and say their technology looks great and they’ll put it on our bus for free.
