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Springfield Township SD to pilot Safe Fleet stop‑arm cameras on five buses for data collection
Summary
The property committee approved a free pilot with Safe Fleet to install automated stop‑arm cameras on five buses for about a month of data collection beginning mid‑April. Staff will bring pilot results to the May 20 committee meeting to decide on broader deployment and procurement models.
Springfield Township SD will run a pilot program installing automated stop‑arm cameras on five school buses to collect data on motorists passing stopped buses, district staff told the property committee on March 25.
Transportation lead Nate Bray said the pilot — provided at no cost to the district — will not issue citations and is intended to measure how often motorists fail to stop and whether a camera enforcement program would be cost‑effective and improve student safety. “There is no cost for that pilot to the district and there is no citations being issued,” he said.
How the pilot works: exterior cameras mounted on buses receive a signal tied to the bus’s amber and red warning lights and log timing data; the system captures video when it detects a potential violation. An initial human review by the vendor reduces false positives before an evidence package is forwarded to local police for final determination and any enforceable citation.
Legal and fiscal context: committee members asked how citations and revenue are handled under Pennsylvania law; staff said a civil citation is $300 and the statutory split is $25 to the Commonwealth, $25 to local police and $250 to the camera operator or bus owner. District officials described multiple procurement options — revenue‑sharing with a vendor, or district ownership of equipment with vendor review services — and said cost models will be presented after pilot data.
Pilot timeline and reporting: installation on five buses is expected in mid‑April with data due back to the committee at the May 20 meeting, giving the district roughly one month of operational data. Staff emphasized the pilot’s primary goal is student safety and training use: video may also be used for driver coaching when appropriate.
Concerns and staff feedback: the district reported mixed driver and staff perceptions of how widespread stop‑arm violations are; staff said Safe Fleet’s review process and vendor practices influenced the recommendation to pilot with Safe Fleet rather than other regional vendors. The committee will review pilot findings, cost options and local‑police agreements before any program that results in citations.
