School Bus Driver Still Texting While Driving

Driving-related accidents contribute to creating the highest mortality rates in most young age groups. Nothing comes close to the number of unintentional deaths caused on the highways. Most of the deaths in cars are due in part to distracted drivers who lack the discipline to focus on the road and ignore their never-ending digital notifications. The current addiction for young drivers is their digital addiction called their "Smartphone."

The penalties are severe, and if you are caught in a commercial application or, worse, an application where the driver is transporting other passengers, the penalties can include loss of license, high fines, and potentially jail time.

Despite the general distaste for those who text and drive, despite the league ramifications and the knowledge you might accidentally kill yourself or another person due to your irresponsible, dangerous distracted driving, some people cannot seem to put their little Dopamine brain injection device down.
The reason is that your brain literally gives you a rush of Dopamine when you get a text from your special person, which is very similar to peak sexual arousal to a lesser degree. Some people are literally addicted to their smartphones and are almost incapable of ignoring the message alerts until they are no longer driving and reaching their destination.

In the process of verifying video authenticity, checking resolution issues, and sampling customer-submitted samples to suggest different camera settings that they have expressed a question about, one cannot help but notice how many of the bus drivers in the video samples they send in are holding their phones and in some cases looking at them to possibly read a message. Every time they take their eyes and attention off the rod and focus on the little electronic device in their hand, bad things can happen.

Not only are they breaking laws, abandoning any level of professionalism and concern for the awesome responsibility of safely transporting other people’s children but they are in some cases risking their lives, the lives of the children, and their job and freedom for what might amount to be an emoji or kitten meme!

Every DVR we provide has a built-in mechanism to detect Dangerous Driving Behaviours that are common symptoms of Texting While Driving.

Hard breaking because the kitten meme you looked at took your eyes off the road and your vehicle moving 40+ MPH rolled up on a slowing car much faster than you anticipated, so you had to hit the brakes hard.

Hard turns are made again while focusing on your smartphone and not the road until you must overcompensate to make the turn you were approaching when you got a message alert and looked at your phone.

Impact charting is common in distracted drivers because they take turns too fast or too wide and often hit the curbs, storm drains or other objects before correcting their driving.



3-Axis Accelerometers Can Save Lives
Vehicle Video Camera Systems incorporate state-of-the-art metadata collection technology that documents the driver’s erratic and often dangerous driving behaviors, whether the cameras are pointing at the driver or not.

The drivers of public school buses need to be aware that the School Bus Surveillance Camera system in that bus is monitoring their driving and charting their Dangerous Driving Behaviours, which often lead to accidents.

The drivers of public wheelchair lift buses need to know that the Special Needs Wheelchair Bus Safety Camera installed in that vehicle has the ability to chart in a digital graph every erratic maneuver they may make in that bus that can indicate they are creating a hazard on the road to themselves and their passengers.

Drivers of shuttle vehicles transporting elderly patients to and from locations need to know the ParaTransit, Elderly Senior Day Care Transport Vehicle Camera system has the same capabilities to document Dangerous Driving Behaviors as the Medicaid Patient Transport Vehicle Camera system, and both are charting inertia forces to document the lateral “G” forces as well as hard braking and rapid acceleration all indicative of dangerous driving which may be an effect of texting while driving as the driver becomes less focused on driving and more focused on their cell phone.

While we expect a more professional driver behind the wheel of an EMS vehicle due to their higher level of training, we still see the same kinds of distractions in the less trained private transport for elderly or low-income transport applications. These drivers may not realize the NEMT Patient Transport Vehicle Camera they use to monitor the patients they are transporting is also charting how they drive and highlighting the erratic events that may indicate dangerous driving on their part, possibly due to texting and driving. Non-Emergency Medical Transport Camera Recorders have documented this behavior well in advance on numerous occasions before an accident. Sadly, no one paid attention to the wide “G” sensor chart fluctuations. Nothing was done to address the problems before there was an accident.

A van transporting a patient or two from a clinic involved in an accident is bad. Still, when it is a school bus filled with other people’s children, it immediately becomes the top news story nationwide, with intense scrutiny and calls for action invariably leading to lawsuits and unpleasant legal complications.

The problem is a symptom of Human Nature. People want to do what they want to do and have little concern for what our company superiors or boss want us to do. Driving is attractive to some people simply because they do not have anyone watching them work, no boss looking over their shoulder, watching the mistakes you make, and criticizing your driving.

However, over 35 years of experience in the Fleet Driver, Risk Management markets have taught me all that changes drastically when you make drivers accountable.
The quickest way to stop negative driving behavior demonstrated by drivers is to place a camera on the driver, so all claims of Driving While Texting can be verified or disproven.
When they have a camera recording everything they do, they are much less likely to openly break the law and company policy when it comes to; texting, eating, drinking, making obscene gestures to other drivers, engaging in road rage, and screaming at other drivers while driving.

Most people (not all, some are beyond help) will act in a more professional manner where they know their boss is watching them. Those that cannot perform their driving functions as proscribed by their district policy or their supervisors, those who flagrantly break the law, need to be dealt with quickly before they cause an accident and harm themselves or others.



Alternative School & Juvenile Detention Bus Security Camera systems can help deter driver texting and other distracted driver behaviors.

Forklift HD Industrial Operator Safety Camera Systems offer a constant reminder to the lift operator that the events and activities are recorded and reliable in case of accidents.

Casino Customer Shuttle Bus Video Surveillance Safety Cameras help make the passengers who may be drunk or hungover and often much poorer than when they got off the bus that their desires to take out their frustration and anger on their lack of self-control on the vehicle may have consequences as they are being recorded.

Police Patrol Wagon Suspect, Prisoner & Inmate in-Custody Transport Cameras have for 20 years provided verifiable sequential Digital Eye Witness Video Evidence when claims of police abuse or mishandling of prisoners or suspects in custody being transported may arise.

Paratransit Driver Safety Video Camera Surveillance Systems can quickly verify or dispute if the drivers are distracted by using their mobile devices while driving.

Medicaid Medical Transport In-Vehicle Surveillance Camera Recorders offer an additional level of Fleet Risk Management by the administration to help dispute or verify claims that may be made of distracted driver behavior.

Elderly Day Care Shuttle & Assisted Living Transportation Vehicle Video Camera systems to help monitor the safe transport of elderly nursing homes or Adult Day Care facilities and offer a means to verify if the drivers are distracted by their mobile devices.

Waste Collection Recycling Video Camera Surveillance Systems benefit from the sequential documentation of pickup and drop-off services when claims may be made.

Non-Emergency Medical Transit Camera Surveillance Systems may require additional oversight when federal funding may be involved.

Transportation Ministry Youth Activities Church Bus Camera Systems offer another watchful Digital Eye Witness in case of claims the drivers are distracted by their mobile devices.

Before & After Care School Child Day Care Pickup In-vehicle Shuttle Safety Cameras add peace of mind to parents of very young children in their transport to and from school or other Kindergarten or Pre-Kindergarten activities provided by their Child Day Care service provider.

Head Start  Pre-K Pre-School Nursery School Child Safety Bus Camera Recorder systems can also benefit by adding some verifiable means to document what occurs in those vehicles used to transport very young children to and from school or other Kindergarten or Pre Kindergarten activities provided by their Child Day Care service provider.




Most professional driving occupations do not carry 50+ children, so when reports of school bus drivers texting and driving with a bus of children is brought to the attention of the district management staff, there needs to be a mechanism to verify or disprove the claim. Cameras for School Buses seem the most sensible choice as, unlike attendants, driver’s aids or the hearsay of those children riding the bus, School Bus Video Surveillance Cameras can prove or disprove claims of school bus drivers texting and driving.

School Bus Video Camera Recorders provide Expert Witness Video Evidence that is unbiased, nonprejudicial and watermarked encrypted video provides a chain of custody that can hold up in court cases.

Should you have any questions or concerns or require more information about Testudo Lifetime System Warranty Bus Camera Systems, various applications or School Bus Student Transportation Video Camera Recorder configurations, we encourage you to let us know and we will be happy to offer our 35+ years of market experience in sales and service of digital recording devices to respond to your concerns or questions.