Month: January 2015

Parents Happy With the Installation of GPS in School Buses

Posted on by TSB Super Admin

Parents won’t always be free to take their child to school and take them back to home. Therefore, they have to depend on school buses to send their children to school. Almost all the schools now provide this transportation facility; either bus or some other vehicles. But all parents are concerned with the safety of their children. How can you ensure the safety of your child in their way to school? Global Positioning System (GPS) will help you to ensure the security.

Soon, the Government will make it mandatory for all school managements to install global positioning system (GPS) in school transport vehicles and parents are quite happy with this decision. Many schools already have GPS systems with tracking and monitoring system with equal involvement of parents and management.

With the increase in number of assault cases against children in school hours, parents are much worried about their safety. With the installation of GPS tracking system in the school buses, parents and school authorities can be sure of the travel route of the students and they will be informed in case any untoward incident takes place.

Advantages of GPS Tracking System

• Real- time information
Undoubtedly, one of the most advantageous features of GPS Tracking System is real-time information that one received about the location of the school bus. It helps you to know where the buses are, monitor pick up and drop off. You will be informed if any bus goes in a wrong route or if there is any unscheduled stop or delay.

• Student safety
Get notified if a student gets into a wrong bus or steps out at a wrong station. Even if the student misses his/her station, the parent will be informed. The exact location of the child can be identified with RFID tags attached to the devices.

• Monitoring the speed, managing the route and scheduling
If the vehicle is moving at a high speed, you will be informed and you can warn the school authorities to control it to avoid accidents. The authority can rely upon RFID school management software. The software can do routing and scheduling automatically. In that way, time and energy needed for rescheduling and re-routing can be saved.

• A solid record
It is possible for the school authorities to record all the activities and route of the school bus using the GPS tracking system.

What is there to worry?

The number of children abducted on their way to school and to home is increasing rapidly. Majority of the kidnapped children were found dead or had been missing. This is a dangerous situation. You cannot always have your children by your side. So finding a reliable solution to this is a necessity.
Edsys’ School bus Tracking System is a reliable solution to tackle this problem effectively. This will make parents really happy because it is so easy to use and syncs with the Parent Portal.

Once installed in your smart device having internet connection Parent Portal gives the following information:

• The travel history of their child at any given time
• A confirmation whether their children has reached school or home
• Monitor speed of school bus
• Time duration at each stop
• The reasons of delay such as break down, traffic jams, natural hazards etc.

Notifications can be enabled as per needs. For example, few minutes before the bus reaches in the morning, when the student boards the bus, when the student misses the bus or when the student reaches home etc.
The installation of GPS tracking systems with RFID software will surely reduce the number of crimes and attacks against students. Even if a child is abducted, it makes it easy for the authority to find the missing child with minimum time. Since the safety of the child is the major concern, the installation of a GPS tracker will make the parents really happy.

Why School Bus Stops are Danger Zones?

Posted on by TSB Super Admin

Accidents relating to school students are something we hear every day. Thousands of innocent lives are lost, simply because we choose to remain ignorant. But, did you know that some of the most bizarre incidents actually take place outside of a school bus, especially school bus stops?

There are quite a lot of safety measures and regulations that needs to be followed by all the schools. But they are all ignored, simply because they are thought to be expensive or simply because schools find it a tedious task. A cost effective and reliable student tracking system is an apt solution for this. CBSE had recently taken measures to install GPS tracking systems on-board buses for safety of the students.

Some common issues a student faces at bus stops

  • Poor or lack of bus stop infrastructure

            Students are forced to board buses from unsafe locations, due to the lack of proper bus stops. In cases where a bus stop is available, poor infrastructure due to lack of maintenance, makes them unusable. This increases the risk to the lives of the children as they are more exposed to accidents and influenced by anti-social elements. With the availability of school bus tracking system parents can keep track of their children. They can get alerts in case of a child not boarding a bus.

  • Lack of security at bus stops

In most cases, students have to face the ordeal of boarding a bus alone. This poses a great risk for them. With a rise in cases related to kidnapping, molestation and child abuse, children’s safety at bus stops is every parent’s nightmare. A school bus GPS tracking system with school bus tracker app offers parents the luxury of tracking their school going children from their homes or even their places of work. Hence parents do the job of providing security, without even being physically present. CCTV cameras can also play a vital role in ensuring their safety.

  • Mom…I missed the bus!!!

            There might only be a few very who haven’t missed their school buses. When bus stops are far away from home, parents fail to realize what happens. By the time they know what has happened, it might be too late. So a GPS enabled school bus tracking system could be their eyes in the sky. The RFID technology in school bus trackers keep parents updated about their wards well being.

  • Poor Road safety at bus stops

School bus stops are considered to be special traffic zones. Other drivers have the duty of maintaining and following all traffic rules when near a bus stop. But in most cases it’s the exact opposite that happens. Over speeding, overtaking, excessive use of loud horns, not giving preference to the school bus at bus stops are some of the common practices which drivers tend to do. Also in places where a zebra crossing or school crossing is provided, drivers simply choose to ignore them.

Supreme Court directions for school bus and bus stop safety

Here are the directions issued by the Supreme Court to make school buses and their bus stops safer.

For the motor vehicles belonging to educational institutions:

  • The buses shall be painted in yellow colour with a 254 mm wide strip of dark blue paint going all around the body 178 mm below the windows.
  • The crest of the institution shall be painted below the dark blue strip in white colour on both sides of the vehicle between the rear and the front wheels.
  • The name of the institution shall be written on the front side either above or below the windscreen according to the space available.

For the School Bus Stop: Proper bus stop for the stoppage of school buses shall be marked on the main road as well as on the inner roads of various sectors/colonies. Due demarcation and sign boards exhibiting school bus stop shall be displayed at that point.

For the Pedestrian Crossings: Pedestrian crossings (zebra crossing) shall be provided on all the roads which are in front of all the schools located on the main or inner roads in all the towns of the states. Any person who offends the law with regard to pedestrian crossing and does not stop the vehicle prior to the pedestrian crossing provided for the children to go to school, if so needed in that area, shall be deemed to have committed a traffic offence and shall be liable to be punished in accordance with law.

5 Reasons Why You Should Monitor Hard Braking and Acceleration

Posted on by TSB Super Admin

When it comes to student safety, we think of everything. We ensure their safety at school, in the bus, on the streets and every other place he may come in contact with. We even have systems to evaluate school performances and even the teachers. But how many schools care to access and analyze school bus drivers. It is a tough task, since they are part of a school, who work outside the school. Tracking school bus drivers and their driving pattern means the need for a physical presence throughout a bus journey. Is that true? Is there no means of checking up on a driver?

Well, that has been a problem of the past. The GPS technology incorporated in a reliable school bus tracking systems can help you get accurate readings of driving patterns. Hard braking and acceleration are the two processes that a school bus GPS looks out for. It helps not only to keep the students safe, but also the general public.

 

What is hard breaking and acceleration?

            When applying a force on the brake or accelerator than what is required normally, it is said to be hard breaking. Monitoring such events using GPS helps to identify aggressive behavior in drivers, avoid uneconomic driving ethics and above all has the potential to notify of accidents via school bus tracker apps. In school bus trackers a GPS system along with an Automatic Crash Notification(ACN), can notify the school or the school bus fleet manager in the case of sudden braking or deceleration and also other emergency services in case of any hazardous outcomes.

 

Why monitor hard braking and acceleration?

  1. Helps reduce fuel waste: Driving pattern plays a key role in fuel consumption. A steady pace driving means lower fuel consumption while hard breaking and acceleration takes up a lot of fuel. A school bus tracker monitors braking and acceleration with the help of an accelerometer and instructs the driver about it. In some cases an efficiency of up to a mile per liter has been achieved.
  2. Environment friendly: When the fuel consumption increases, so does the pollutants. Keeping a check on braking and acceleration will help reduce fuel consumption, which means lesser pollutants are emitted. Drivers are forced to follow a better driving ethics and this helps to reduce pollution.
  3. Accident risk reduced: With better driving ethics come lesser road calamities. Drivers are forced to use a minimum of hard breaking and acceleration. They maintain a constant and safe road speed and any discrepancies are immediately identified by school bus tracking system and notified to the authority in charge.
  4. Brake maintenance: Maintenance charges on breaks are considerably reduced as minimalistic braking can reduce wear and tear of brakes. Fleet companies find this useful, since they spend huge amounts on maintenance.
  5. Identifying aggressive driving: The role of human element in road accidents are over 90%. In most of the cases careless and reckless driving patterns have been found to be the key issue. Reckless driving may be the result of an angry or stressed driver. The role of school bus GPS in realizing these issues prior to occurrence of accidents has helped save lives throughout the world.

Building a culture of tracking these kinds of driver activities helps to reduce rash driving to a great extent. Reduced rash driving means lesser number of risky situations, which directly results in better school bus safety.