Sprint recently announced new technology to improve safety on school buses.
What would it be like to be a parent of a 9-year-old and have your child riding on a school bus missing for five hours? That actually happened in Pennsylvania in 2002, writes Denise Pappalardo of Network World. The bus ended up 100 miles from home and luckily the gunman surrendered to police without any injuries to students. Could this happen again? Absolutely.
Bus safety is a concern and there has been much talk on how to make buses safer. But, what if the bus can not be found? Everyday Wireless is offering location-tracking technology for school buses. Dispatchers and law enforcement would be able to track school bus movement every 10 seconds. All buses could be instantly located.
The iX-3 system also supports rider attendance features that track when and where students board and disembark the bus, writes Pappalando. The system can alert the bus driver if a student gets off at the wrong location.
Is anyone using this system? Yes. The following schools already have this system in place.
- Colorado Springs School District
- Orange County Public Schools in Florida
- Dallas County Schools
Recently, students have become targets of terrorists and other disturbed individuals. Schools have added radios, cameras and seatbelts to improve safety on buses. Perhaps, this is the next step.
Read previous articles on Educational Issues.
Copyright article 2007 Barbara Pytel. All Rights Reserved.
