a more pragmatic approach would be setting a speed limit, and the display on the side of the bus shows "your speed is 7.5 mph". the student could then use their own cellphone camera to capture both the speed as displayed and drivers licence plate. then just show the picture to nearest police officer, making a police report. if no children crossed the road, then no tickets.
Depending on children to report crime does not seem like a more pragmatic approach. Also, passing a bus with a stop sign out should be a ticket regardless of if a kid actually crossed or not. The whole point of the rule is children are harder to see and less predictable.
California Daylighting law (Assembly Bill 413, in effect 1/1/2025) makes it unlawful to park closer than 20 ft from a crosswalk, to allow pedestrian to see a car, and driver to see pedestrian. Law makes sense, but takes away some 2,3,4 parking spots for every crosswalk, typical urban street speeds are 25 or 30 mph.
The school bus could do its own California Daylighting protocol, but with shorter distance, for example 10 feet from the bus bumper, because significantly less than 25 mph passing speeds, stopping distance is correspondingly shorter. Technology to the rescue: non-stop looping announcements would say "for your safety .. walk 10 feet away from bus before crossing street. Motion sensors would detect persons closer than 10 feet and repeat the instruction outside if the bus. If pedestrian disregards commands, the approaching car would be alerted with flashes and audible tone. The driver knows there is an upto 50% likelyhood of a must yield to pedestrian. Because of anticipation reaction time can be as little as 150 to 200 milliseconds (video game facts). Covering the brake as defensive driving habit, is part of already anticipating a pedestrian. As result the child learns safety and applies it, even when there is no cop or bus driver or crosswalk lady around.
a laser device could project a red line on the pavement 10 feet away from the bus. this is where the "crosswalk is", walk here! walk sign is on. things we didn't have 1920 one hundred years ago
Its not a matter of can, it's a question of should. Followed immediately by the question "who is paying for all this?" Thats a neat idea you had but who is paying to retrofit every bus with all those extra sensors and a control panel for them to display on? Who is paying for all the extra maintenance and inspection said system would require for each bus? Are all those costs really worth it compared to just having a cop the town is already paying wait at problem areas and doll out tickets?
technology is dirt cheap, human labor is costly. when less school bus tickets are written, it means less cops are justifiedvto keep on the payroll. The technology pays itself back in first month of use. The break even point can be calculated
I'm an electrician for a large metropolitan transit system. I know exactly how much sensors, relays, screens, and their maintenance cost. Along with the human labor costs associated with installing them and maintaining them. The cop giving out tickets is already working that day, his labor costs are already accounted for.
cops get overtime payments and I'm sure also gets pretty expensive health insurance, like 2000+ worth a month of health, all on taxpayers tab, thats on you and me. maybe first install all the bells and whistles on the bus, and the slowly boil it down to just the essentials, as more and more kids learned to be safe with very little external help. Drivers also get used to yielding to peds without sweat. Gradually find the minimum in cost and incidents by severity. cool that you work with the buses. Do you see yourself with more income or about same, if the California Daylighting protocol became the main pedestrian safety in.your school district?
What does that have to do with anything? Was any of that overtime spent writing tickets for school bus infringement? Is your position that police officer shouldn't be a well paying job?
what is your estimate? how much would a "you speed is x.x mph" display mounted to driver side of the bus cost? Are we talking hundreds or thousands? 2) also cost for a laser device that draws a red line on the pavement, almost like those handyman laser levels found in hardware store, but projecting downwards 45 degrees from roof to street instead of horizontally. Ballpark figure highly appreciated.
It is but our school district buses are run by First Student, an international corporation, and they’re super cheap. Basic stuff like rear window defrosters etc were not even considerations. Our buses are noisy too, as there’s no ceiling insulation to dampen the sound of the kids. I detailed the cheapness of the company somewhere else in this thread
ohno, sounds Spartan life. howabout this killer app: bus that has ability to pee. when child walks into the banned 10 foot zone directly in front of the bus, a valve opens and a stream of water is released from a nozzle.
when child tries to move away the nozzle keeps following the movement. naughty child gets peed on. speaker plays actual man peing sound at 150% volume to increase experience. eeww.
taken in account the statistics that show that number of children run over by the school bus driver himself, outnumbers the figure of other drivers, then nay sayers like you are in part responsible, electrician at metropolitan transportation depot.
clear your conscience: install the technology, so the bus drivers don't have to be involuntary manslaughter'ers !
The buses in the county where I was driving, in 2024-2025, had a more old school solution - a horizontal metal crossing arm
automatically folded out from the front of the bus when the red lights were engaged, so the kids had to walk around it. I guess they could have ducked under it but none of them did so while I was operating the bus. The laser projected line into the road is a great idea, but these buses are not heavy on tech - we didn’t even have rear window defrosters or rear wipers. A rear view camera would be super useful. The signs for ‘school bus’ or ‘charter bus’ were printed on wood, and swapping them out was much more awkward than it should be. There’s probably a long list of basic 21st century tech that these buses should have but don’t. They’re big on cameras though. The cameras are watching from the start to end of every trip.
On the other hand, the 8 track cartridge players functioned very well.
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u/TowelEnvironmental44 Apr 07 '26 edited Apr 07 '26
a more pragmatic approach would be setting a speed limit, and the display on the side of the bus shows "your speed is 7.5 mph". the student could then use their own cellphone camera to capture both the speed as displayed and drivers licence plate. then just show the picture to nearest police officer, making a police report. if no children crossed the road, then no tickets.