CONNECTED CARS Some possibilities are fun: a music streaming service could suggest tracks based on the picturesque stretch of country lane the car is navigating. Advertisers, for years confined to radio jingles and roadside billboards when marketing to motorists, are salivating at the prospect of beaming tailor-made adverts to the car’s captive audience. https://lnkd.in/bnj-g38

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Eyes on the Road, Cameras on Buses

(Riverton, Wyo.) – There is a new addition to the Riverton bus fleet, cameras. The extra eyes on the road is the result of legislative action that was spurred after a tragedy that changed Wyoming forever. An 11-year-old Crowheart girl, killed after walking off the school bus. The driver ,ignoring all the signs, the stop arm extended the flashing lights. It’s a crime that happens in Wyoming all to often, drivers zooming past school buses when they shouldn’t. “We probably have stop sign violations once a day or once every two days.” says Fremont County School District Transportation 25 Director Berry Capellen. The death of the young student encouraged immediate action in the Wyoming legislature, requiring cameras on all public school buses. Now all 31 buses in FCSD 25′s fleet are equipped with 5 cameras. 2 on the outside and 3 inside that also record sound. “We as drivers do have a lot of distractions, and we want to make sure that our kids are safe and get to school safe.” Says long time bus driver James Sandfer. While the wheels on the bus go round and round, the electric eyes never blink. The camera’s catch everything. “It will help our driver monitor the students,” says superintendent Terry Snyder. “It will help them monitor the traffic, and it even helps us monitor the drivers themselves. School officials can easily share the footage with law enforcement, parents, and principals to make sure action is taken. It is the hope that these cameras will help avoid a repeat of past tragedies….And shed light on incidents that have yet to come. “These cameras aren’t here to punish you,” says driver Sandfer. “They’re there to make sure are kids are safe. School districts around the state need to have the cameras installed in their buses by July 1st 2017.

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Denver RTD Installs HD Surveillance on Bus Transit System

The Denver Regional Transportation District (RTD) Transit Police Division recently installed new security systems in the RTD’s bus fleet, including cameras supplied by Panasonic and mobile video recording and investigation solutions by NICE Systems. The mobile solution will significantly enhance RTD’s investigative efficiency by automatically offloading these video recordings and integrating them with various other video and audio sources to create a unified event timeline. The system starts with the imaging devices, which include multiple models of Panasonic i-PRO network cameras. With 1080p and HD 720p HD network cameras inside and outside of each bus, integrated with other hardware and software components for recording, file transfer, viewing and management, the system delivers an end-to-end mobile security solution for the growing transportation agency. The installation leverages NICE Systems NiceVision IP video management software and the NICE Inform platform to view and manage video files, and integrates them with various other video and audio sources and case files to create a unified event timeline. The multiphase deployment of the integrated solution across RTD’s new and existing fleet is ongoing.

 WIRELESS OFFLOAD CAPABILITIES A key benefit of the solution is the ability for RTD staff to quickly and wirelessly offload flagged video files associated with specific incidents from buses’ in-vehicle recorders. This eliminates the need to manually offload data and search through files when investigating an incident, saving the agency significant time and cost. One of the Panasonic digital video recorders mounted in a bus (photo credit: NICE Systems) The in-vehicle technology also includes the capability for public safety officials to view live footage from the buses’ cameras during an emergency, from up to a block away. By employing open-platform Panasonic i-PRO Mega Super Dynamic WV-SW155 compact dome cameras and i-PRO Super Dynamic WV-SW158 compact dome cameras with microphone capabilities, the solution delivers improved video quality and clarity as well as wider fields of view. Designed for use in a transit environment, the vandal-resistant cameras are engineered to withstand shocks and impacts, and are IP66-rated water and dust resistant. Additionally, the in-vehicle recorders are equipped with anti-vibration mounts to ensure long-term performance, and cameras on buses’ exteriors are secured in shroud housings for added protection. “With our former analog-based system, RTD Security had to physically retrieve hard drives from busses to investigate incidents an average of 25-30 times per day – a significant waste of time and resources. Video quality was also poor and sometimes unusable,” said Bob Grado, RTD Transit Police commander and manager of integrated security operations. “Working with Panasonic, we developed a high-quality solution from the ground up to address these issues and more importantly, to ensure the security of our bus system for our 101 million passenger trips a year.” Grado also pointed out the benefits of the NICE recorders, as well as RTD’s long-term experience with the company’s products. “We’ve used NiceVision for well over a decade to help secure our Park-n-Ride facilities as well as our light rail and bus transfer stations,” he said. “NICE has developed a solution that will now enable us to leverage the proven NiceVision IP video software on our buses while adding new capabilities to help us streamline thousands of annual investigations. I’m confident this solution is going to significantly improve our investigative capabilities and efficiency.”

 AUTOMATIC DOWNLOADS The solution enables automatic and immediate secure download of video recorded on any RTD bus upon arrival at a bus depot. This is a significant improvement over RTD’s previous process which involved manually retrieving video from hard disks or DVRs. Requested video is also automatically uploaded into a case management file in NICE Inform, where it can be combined with voice recordings and video from fixed surveillance video cameras to create a seamless incident timeline. Reports can be appended as well. Among the solution’s benefits are: significantly improved efficiency, collaboration, video quality, and data security; as well as the ability to combine multiple sources of video/audio for more thorough investigations. View from one of the Panasonic dome cameras “We are pleased to help RTD meet its security needs with an innovative video recording and investigation solution. This reinforces the success of our past implementations and strengthens our ongoing relationship with RTD,” said Yaron Tchwella, president of the NICE Security Group. “This new initiative also illustrates the types of benefits that mass transportation agencies can achieve by deploying the NICE integrated security solutions portfolio across their transit systems.” “RTD faced a significant challenge, as its ridership base is rapidly growing, but its aging mobile surveillance system could not keep up – with a rapidly increasing failure rate, an inefficient video offload process and poor video quality,” said Greg Peratt, senior director for Panasonic’s Video Solutions Integration Team. “With our rich experience as a public sector technology provider, Panasonic is uniquely positioned to partner with RTD to build a solution that meets their needs, and we look forward to seeing it deliver the results they’re looking for.”

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Indiana House Back Camera Enforcement Plan for School Bus Stop Arms

House Bill 1042, which now goes to the Senate, permits public and private schools that operate bus fleets to contract with camera-enforcement companies that will install cameras on school bus stop-arms and photograph motorists failing to stop when a bus is picking up or dropping off children. Evidence of an alleged stop-arm violation would be reviewed by a local police officer, who would issue a citation to the vehicle owner demanding payment of a civil fine of $300 for the first violation, $750 for the second within five years and $1,000 for a third violation. That money would be divvied up among the camera company, schools and police, instead of being deposited in the state's general fund like most traffic violation fines. Every region representative, except state Rep. Rick Niemeyer, R-Lowell, voted in favor of the proposal. School bus stopping requirements Indiana law requires motorists traveling in both directions on all two-lane and most four-lane roads to stop when a school bus puts out its stop arm, which typically is accompanied by flashing red lights. The only exception is a four-lane road divided by a median, then just vehicles traveling the same direction as the school bus must stop.