How do countries protect children on school buses?

From monitoring devices

Ensuring children's safety and security during the journey from home to school is a concern of parents around the world .

Even in developed countries where children are regularly transported by bus, governments are constantly coming up with new solutions to help parents monitor their children's activities on the bus in real time to promptly resolve any unexpected incidents.

The NYC School Bus app gives parents peace of mind by allowing them to closely monitor their children's bus journey to school (Photo: NYC).

As one of the most modern cities in the world, New York has been actively applying high technology to school buses. In early 2024, New York Mayor Eric Adams andEducation Director David C. Banks launched the NYC School Bus app for families whose children ride the bus to school.

“Many New York families have busy days, and the NYC School Bus app will make their lives easier by allowing parents to manage their child’s pick-up and drop-off right from their computer or smartphone and track the bus’ route from home to school,” said Mayor Adams.

To ensure peace of mind for families using the NYC School Bus app, bus drivers will be required to register their routes in advance. Parents can contact the school bus company if they do not see a driver logged in on their route and request that the driver provide information online.

The New York Department of Education said it will update more smart features, including forecasting departure and arrival times of school buses, the time and location of students getting on/off the bus, and notifying bus delays based on feedback from parents during the application use to ensure maximum safety for children during the trip.

To biometric technology

Meanwhile, the European country of Bosnia and Herzegovina has come up with a solution to track students on school buses based on the student ID cards provided by the school. The cards are integrated with RFID technology, allowing the exact location of students and buses to be determined in real time to ensure student safety while traveling.

Biometric technology helps accurately identify each student getting on and off the bus, ensuring no one gets on the wrong bus or is left behind on the bus (Illustration: Wayside Insurance).

ReaXium, a company that provides student management solutions using biometric technology on phones in this country, has gone even further by applying fingerprint or student card recognition technology when children board the bus to accurately determine the identity of each student, the time they get on and off the bus, and the bus route they take to school.

“Parents and managers can monitor buses in real time and receive specific and detailed notifications about their children’s status throughout the trip,” explains ReaXium CEO Edgar Zorrilla. “The ability to provide continuous imagery across the entire bus route is critical to ensuring no child is left behind and the safety of the community as a whole.

Additionally, our devices can also serve as a student information management tool, allowing drivers to see exactly how many students are riding, which students are getting off at which stop, and who is waiting for them at the next stop.

These devices also help drivers quickly report to management or students' families about unavoidable delays or unexpected incidents."

Smart sensors combine human factors

While in the US and Europe, advanced technologies using smartphone connections and expensive communication devices are prioritized for monitoring and ensuring the safety of students using school buses, in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), since 2018, Emirates Transport buses specializing in serving students to school have been equipped with smart sensors.

Buses in the UAE are equipped with smart sensors that can detect people or objects left on the vehicle (Photo: Gulf News).

The UAE Transport Office in Ras Al Khaimah Obaid Al Breiki said that the installation of these smart sensors was carried out on all 455 local school buses and the company also added 31 new buses to serve the needs of transporting students.

According to Mr. Al Breiki, this sensor system will be activated when the bus stops or closes the door. "The device helps detect any objects or students left on the bus and will quickly alert if there is a loud noise.

This sensor system brings great safety value to the 22,000 students in the city of Ras Al Khaimah. Bus drivers will hang a special sign reading "No Students on the Bus" on the rear window of the bus at the end of each trip.

All bus monitors will be required to check at least twice before closing the bus to ensure that no students or foreign objects are left on the bus.

"If a bus driver fails to display a 'No Students on the Bus' sign after closing the doors and driving to a special stop reserved for them, he will be heavily fined," Mr. Al Breiki added.

It can be said that incidents that happen to children while riding the bus to school are something that no one wants. Therefore, in addition to optimizing technology to avoid unfortunate incidents, parents, drivers and schools also need to pay more attention to ensuring absolute safety for children.

Source: https://www.baogiaothong.vn/cac-nuoc-ung-dung-cong-nghe-han-che-nguy-co-quen-tre-tren-xe-dua-don-the-nao-192240530160201908.htm