Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Cameras as a Deterrent to Reduce School Bus Arm Bar Violations

This Sources Sought Notice is for planning purposes only and shall not be construed as a solicitation or as an obligation on the part of the NHTSA. The purpose of this Notice is to identify potential sources that may be interested in and capable of performing the work described herein. The NHTSA welcomes Corporate Capability Statements from all individuals and organizations. The NHTSA does not intend to award a contract on the basis of responses nor otherwise pay for the preparation of any information submitted or NHTSA's use of such information. Acknowledgement of receipt of responses will not be made, nor will respondents be notified of NHTSA's evaluation of the information received. As a result of this Notice, the NHTSA may issue a Request for Proposals (RFP). However, should such a requirement fail to materialize, no basis for claims against the NHTSA shall arise as a result of a response to this Notice. A one-day survey of over 108,000 school bus drivers reported 85,279 vehicles illegally passing stopped school buses. When this number is extrapolated to the school year, it is estimated at over 15 million violations each school year. Fortunately not all passing violations lead to crashes, and annually, the number of students killed is fewer than 10; however, the violations do create numerous close calls. Although cameras are increasingly used to identify school bus stop arm bar violators, the effectiveness of such programs has not been addressed systematically. This project would identify a jurisdiction planning to install cameras to enforce illegal school bus passing laws and document the process to establish yielding rates before and after camera deployment to evaluate the effectiveness of the camera program. The goal of this project is to determine if using stop arm camera enforcement reduces violations. The first steps of the project would be to identify localities planning to implement a stop arm bar camera program, gauge the community's interest in evaluating their program, and conduct observations in the community to quantify violations. It is important to use a locality that already has legislation in place allowing the cameras and has made arrangements to begin camera installation. This demonstration project would also require that the selected jurisdiction plan to implement an education component to reiterate to drivers when they must stop for school buses and that cameras are being used to cite stop arm bar violators. In addition, if not already planned by the jurisdiction, the Contractor shall implement a training/education component for law enforcement officers and judges to increase awareness of how the cameras work and of the technology being deployed. The project will be divided into two phases, with Tasks apportioned as follows: Phase 1 Conduct a Kick-Off Meeting Prepare a Project Work Plan Conduct and Submit a Literature and Program Review Assessment on the Current State of Knowledge Identify Possible School Systems for Participation Obtain School System and Reviewing Law Enforcement Agency Commitments to Participate Phase 2 Develop and Submit the Data Collection Method, Instruments, and Analysis Plan Obtain IRB Approval Pilot Test the Collection Instruments and Protocol Provide Trainings to Law Enforcement Officers and Education for Judges on the Camera Program Collect and Analyze Count Data from Districtwide Counts of Violations, and Citation Data Issued by Law Enforcement Officers in the Field and Generated by the Camera System Obtain and Analyze the Jurisdiction's School Bus Crash Data Obtain the Program's Media Reach via Paid and Earned Media Submit a Final Report Conduct a Final Briefing Format of Corporate Capabilities Statement: Any interested organizations should submit the Corporate Capability Statement which demonstrates the firm's ability and interest in no more than 10 pages to perform the key requirements described above. All proprietary information should be marked as such. All respondents are asked to indicate the type and size of their business organization, e.g., Large Business, Small Business, Small Disadvantaged Business, Women-Owned-Business, 8(A), Historically Black College or University/Minority Institution (HBCU/MI), educational institution, profit/non-profit organization, in their response. Interested offerors shall respond to this Sources Sought Notice no later than 15 calendar days from date of posting. E-mail is the preferred method when submitting responses to this Notice.