Cleveland to utilize school bus cameras with AI to deter stop sign violators
A diagram of how the Ava camera scans the nearby environment while a school bus is stopped. (Courtesy: BusPatrol)
CLEVELAND, Tenn. (WDEF)- Getting kids to and from school everyday is a top priority for school districts.
However, issues with drivers ignoring the stop sign on school buses has led Cleveland City Schools to take action.
Cleveland City Schools has teamed up with the Cleveland Police Department and the company BusPatrol to install new cameras inside of ten school buses’ stop arms.
These cameras are powered by artificial intelligence to detect when motorists do not stop for a school bus.
Donald Wolfe, the Vice President of Governmental Operations with BusPatrol, says that A.I., which they have named Ava, is already proving its abilities to catch traffic violators is very high.
Wolfe said, “She’s at this point now over 30% better than the human eye at capturing violations, so Ava can capture violations across over eight lanes of traffic. She can identify cars that are moving and illegally passing the bus. She can differentiate between cars that are parked and cars that are abiding by the law.”
Once a violation is detected, video of that is sent to the Cleveland Police Department for review.
After that review, Cleveland Police will determine if a violation has occurred.
Wolfe says the average school bus in the United States sees a violator every 3-4 days.
However, it was much higher in Cleveland according to a test of the system last year.
Wolfe said, “During the pilot program in Cleveland city we were seeing over three violations per bus per day, so nearly 10 times the average just in the pilot program.”
Once tickets start being issued, they will be $250 for the first offense, and $500 for subsequent offenses.
This program is at no cost to Cleveland City Schools, as ticket violations go towards paying for it.
Wolfe says he knows the penalty is steep, but hopes it will keep children safe.
Wolfe said, “Unfortunately sometimes it takes receiving a violation with a civil penalty in order to change the driver behavior…It hits folks in the Wallet, but we’re really proud of a data point that states that 90% of drivers who receive a bus control violation never get another violation again.”
The trial period began earlier this week.
f you decide to not stop for school buses in Cleveland, expect a hefty fine in the mail starting February 23.
