Credit: Hatboro-Horsham School District.
Hatboro-Horsham Board of School Directors unanimously approved an agreement to install bus stop arm cameras throughout the district.
Hatboro-Horsham will enter a five-year agreement with BusPatrol to install safety measures on school busses that will capture drivers on camera who run through the bus stop sign while it is stopped and has its red lights flashing. Those videos of vehicles disregarding the stop sign would be sent to the Hatboro and Horsham Township police departments.
Other local school districts, such as Abington, have already implemented the system. Abington School District approved the same measure in 2024 with BusPatrol, which provides busses with the latest stop-arm safety technology, including stop-arm cameras, DVR and storage devices, interior cameras, GPS, telemetry and LTE connectivity. Schools in Bucks County, such as Bensalem, also have implemented the system on its busses.
In Hatboro-Horsham, the financial cost is $138,000 to install cameras on 46 buses, but those costs would be picked up by BusPatrol. Revenue is received from violations of drivers. If those violations exceed BusPatrol fees, Hatboro-Horsham School District would retain the excess amount. If violations do not exceed fees, BusPatrol will cover the difference.
In 2019, the National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services (NASDPTS) released data from their annual national survey indicating that more than 17 million stop-arm violations occur in the United States each year.
“The technology required to power our stop-arm program provides all our riders and their parents with additional benefits, such as access to WIFI and emergency bus safety and anti-bullying alerts,” it said on its website.
