After a Jefferson County youngster was struck by a school bus and killed late last year, a couple of Hillsboro residents developed a school bus safety camera system, and the Hillsboro R-3 School District has begun using it.
Bob Griffey and Jeff Nichols, co-owners of SafeAssist Innovations, developed the camera system, which gives drivers 360-degree views around the outside of a school bus.
The system includes four small cameras strategically placed on the outside of a bus and a 9-inch monitor inside the bus that lets the driver see the images the cameras capture. The system also records what the cameras capture.
“Anywhere you walk around the bus, the driver can see,” said Nichols, a 1991 Hillsboro High School graduate. “The entire time it’s on, it’s recording from all four cameras.”
The cameras follow the turn of the bus, so the system continues to work as the bus is in motion.
Hillsboro R-3 Superintendent Jon Isaacson said he was immediately impressed when Griffey and Nichols presented the idea to the district.
“Anything we can do to keep our kids safe, we want to do,” Isaacson said.
He said the district has been using the camera system on a district bus since SafeAssist Innovations installed it on the bus in the third full week of April.
“It has been working well,” he said.
Jefferson R-7 first-grader Damon Rice was killed Dec. 21, 2021, after he was dropped off from his school bus and then was struck by it as he crossed in front of the bus as it began to pull away.
”That situation is unfathomable for that school community, the parents,” Isaacson said. “When (R-3 officials) were approached, it was a no-brainer to explore it.”
Isaacson said that while some school buses may be equipped with a similar system when they are manufactured, the SafeAssist Innovations camera system is useful because it can be installed on buses already in use and can be transferred from one bus to another, if needed.
“I’m not aware of anyone retrofitting current buses on the road,” he said.
Hillsboro school officials allowed Griffey and Nichols to use a district bus to test out the camera system as they developed it.
“We did this on spec for the district,” Griffey said of the one R-3 bus fitted with the camera system. “It started as a front and back camera. We evolved. Ultimately, why not 360 degrees?”
Nichols said the use of the Hillsboro school bus was important to the system’s development.
“We’re so grateful Dr. Isaacson and the staff allowed us to use one of their buses and work on it,” Nichols said.
While Hillsboro got the first school bus camera system for free, it bought four more of the systems, which are expected to arrive and be installed by the start of the new school year.
The R-3 Board of Education voted unanimously April 19 to spend $26,444 on the four camera systems, including a three-year protection plan for them.
Isaacson said the district plans to purchase more camera systems in the future in the hopes of equipping all its 37 school buses with them.
“To do them all at once, a bond issue would have to be approved by voters,” he said. “Otherwise, we will plan to do it incrementally.”
Debbie Spiller, the R-3 transportation director, said she welcomes the safety camera system for the district’s buses.
“Anytime you can be safer, it’s worth it,” Spiller said. “This will cover a few of the blind spots we couldn’t see before. It will also help catch stop sign runners.”
Nichols said Safe Assist Innovations is only beginning to market its safety camera system. “We wanted to get through the demo bus first,” he said. “We’re starting to reach out to other school districts now.”
To learn more about the camera system, visit safeassistinnovations.com.
In other Hillsboro R-3 Transportation Department news, the Missouri State Highway Patrol gave the district’s school buses a 100 percent rating in its 2022 inspections. “I’m very proud of our entire Transportation Department,” Isaacson said. “This (a 100-percent rating) had never been done before in our history. It shows their overall commitment to safety and excellence.”