Serving the Towns of Wawarsing, Crawford, Mamakating, Rochester and Shawangunk, and everything in between
(none)   
SJ FB page   
 

Gutter
Safer Buses
ECSD Hears How Software Sharpens Its Drivers Instincts

ELLENVILLE – Operations manager Linda Kleingardner and safety director Nicole Dungey of Rolling V, the Ellenville Central School District's transportation provider, presented the ECSD board of education with an update on their company's continued commitment to student safety during the districts' April 20 meeting.

"Rolling V strives to be a leader in school bus safety," Kleingardner said. "We are using technology to enhance our driver safety."

The company currently serves six school district, including Ellenville. The software program Greenroad, Kleingardner noted, is a driver modification program that has helped the company to increase the safe driving skills of their drivers. The company first utilized it in their Fallsburg CSD vehicles in 2009 and the success of the program, Dungey added, gave Greenroad an unprecedented momentum. Soon after, in 2010, the software was installed at Ellenville CSD, with the remaining fleet vehicles following.

The program, Kleingardner said, "was implemented to enhance an already stellar safety program." It teaches drivers to be more aware of their driving as a small black box located near the dashboard signals in green, yellow or red tones. The program tracks the driving conditions as they happen — studying g-force, for example, as the bus makes its route. The lower the g-force recorded, the smoother the ride, Kleingardner explained.

Drivers are given scores, Dungey explained, based on the results garnered as the software tracks 120 different maneuvers that include speed, idling, and lane changes. The program computes the driver's route to a number that is optimally low — below 20 — and highlights the green light in the vehicle. A number between 21 and 50 would indicate moderate safety risk, or yellow, and anything above would glow red, and be unacceptable.

"When we initially started the Greenroad program and we put those in the buses, high scores were pretty typical and people had to teach themselves to drive better, to slow down and make better decisions," Dungey said.

Amongst the district's 27 drivers, Kleingardner said, the ECSD fleet experienced similar results.

"Driving conditions for Ellenville drivers were not in any way bad, as far as we could tell; without a monitoring system we could only follow up on complaints, or catch the drivers doing something wrong," Dungey continued. "The Greenroad system gave us the ability to monitor the behaviors and correct them if the software did not correct the drivers with the real time feedback in the cabs. The drivers showed improvements slowly, but once they learned to modify their driving behaviors the 'complaints or catching them doing something wrong' incidents decreased dramatically."

One driver, she added, started out with a score of 145. After one month, that safety score went down to 45, and this year it's been 9.

Drivers experiencing high scores, Dungey added, are retrained until their scores come down. However, she added that the real time feedback of the program, with the lights indicating how well the driver is doing, allows for instant communication between the driver, terminal managers and herself. Finally, she noted that a healthy dose of competition has gone a long way as well. "The drivers strive for a low score all the time. It's almost a battle amongst them," Dungey said. Board member Rev. Julius Collins recounted his own experiences with the implementation of the program, saying that while he believed himself to be a good driver, the program allowed drivers instant feedback on how they were performing, giving them opportunity to make corrections if need be.

The program not only tracks the drivers' movements but also tracks and traces the bus along its route, acting as a real time GPS beacon. It also indicates hot spots, Dungey said — areas where irregular, albeit not unsafe, driving occurs. Outside the bus garage on Center Street, Dungey said, is one such hot spot... As buses pull out from the garage to begin their shift, a tree blocks visibility and requires the bus to inch t forward, then lurch up a small hill. Such an action would signal the dashboard box to glow yellow or red, but does not indicate a safety issue in and of itself.

Overall, Dungey said, the district has an average safety score of 11.

ECSD assistant superintendent of business Vince Napoli further noted that software analysis has assisted the district when complaints have come in. At times, when residents have suspected drivers of speeding, he said he was able to refer to the information taken on that route to make a determination.

"The dedication to safety coming from Rolling V is very impressive," added board president Karen Osterhoudt. "It's very important cargo you guys are transporting. I'm glad to see these types of safety things in mind for that."

In other news, plans for components of the capital project have been given a green light.

"It's a formality now that plans go back to NYSED, where they'll get the formal signing of approval," said ECSD superintendent Lisa Wiles.

The district recently received an email from outside reviewers approving the districts' plans, Wiles added, noting that while awaiting official approval from the state, the district will be able to go out to bid. However, she went on, the timeline for two signification portions of the capital project — renovations to the high school auditorium, stage and rigging system as well as its cafeteria and kitchen — have been pushed back to summer 2017. The engineers and architects involved were weary of equipment order delays and pushed for a later timeline. While there have been growing concerns regarding a home for the town's summer youth program at the school, given the planned renovations, that change to the timeline allows for both the program as well as the jointly served summer school program to go ahead.

Additionally, the board approved the BOCES 2016-2017 budget of $3,919,870 and has reminded residents of the upcoming district budget vote and board elections on May 17. There will be a Meet the Candidates for the six candidates running for four board seats, put on by the Ellenville Chapter of the NAACP, next Monday, May 2 at the Ellenville Library beginning at 6 p.m.



Gutter Gutter
 
 


Gutter