In a joint announcement released today, officials from Seon and RedSpeed USA said a new partnership will produce a complete stop-arm violation enforcement solution. It will combine Seon’s digital video recorders with RedSpeed’s expertise in photo enforcement violation processing, aimed at improving student safety during the loading and unloading of students.
RedSpeed USA, based in Lombard, Ill., provides turnkey automated red light, speed and school bus stop arm enforcement solutions to more than 70 municipalities and counties nationwide. The company is the North American subsidiary of RedSpeed International, which is in the automated enforcement industry.
Officials from both companies said they are launching a pilot project to test and refine the solution at a school district in Illinois. Once the initial pilot is complete and meets the outlined success criteria, they plan to launch and market a commercially available solution to any school district or contractor-owned business in the states, and in Canada, with existing or pending stop-arm camera legislation.
This new program will be a third offering of such a program. The other separate programs are offered by Tempe, Ariz.-based American Traffic Solutions and Phoenix-based Redflex Student Guardian.
Under this program, when a stop-arm violation is detected, video evidence will be automatically wirelessly uploaded to a central server for review by RedSpeed authorized personnel. Once RedSpeed has verified the violation, an evidence package is created and forwarded to law enforcement personnel for review and final approval. Company officials said unlike the other two stop-arm violation enforcement solutions available, this program would use a high-definition (HD) camera that can clearly capture license plate numbers, even at high speeds.
Once a ticket has been approved by law enforcement, RedSpeed will print and mail a ticket to the registered driver.
Seon President Terry Akiyama said school transporters would have an automated solution that doesn’t require any bus driver interaction to address the real problem of stop-arm violation enforcement.
“Many Seon customers have added stop-arm cameras to their existing camera systems and successfully captured video evidence of stop-arm violations. This partnership with RedSpeed will further automate the solution, giving them a true end-to-end system for capturing, processing and enforcing stop-arm violations,” he added.
Robert Liberman, managing director for RedSpeed, noted that this solution would ensure “a seamless implementation” of a stop-arm enforcement program for every client.
Editor’s note — Watch for a Q&A with Seon on this development in the May edition of School Transportation News magazine.
