Lenexa, Kansas (Jan. 13, 2026) – Transportant, a leader in school transportation safety solutions, today announced the launch of its next-generation school bus stop arm camera. This groundbreaking system combines durability and advanced imaging to address and reduce illegal passings of stopped school buses to protect students and drivers from injury.

The design and technology features of the new camera were developed to overcome challenges of low-tech legacy cameras: 

• High-Resolution, Full-Color Digital Imaging: This is the first stop arm camera in the U.S. to provide digital full-color, high-speed photo and video capture, at the maximum resolution available today delivering superior image clarity for capturing violations, which leads to greater enforcement and drive-by deterrence.

• A sealed, weatherproof design and housing: Constructed as a single molded unit, with the lens integrated into the body of the device and overmolded with a durable polycarbonate material and rubberized seals that prevent water ingress, ensuring reliable long-term performance.

• Always on: While other cameras only operate when the stop arm is deployed, the new camera captures activity surrounding the bus at all times. 

“The new Transportant external camera represents a significant leap forward in stop arm technology and plays a key role in an overall advanced school bus safety system,” said Martin Staples, CEO at Transportant. “By engineering a highly integrated design with advanced imaging, we’re enabling districts to both improve enforcement outcomes, deter bad driver behavior, support their drivers, and of course keep students safe, all while ensuring the long-term reliability of the system to protect the district’s investment.”

Every school day, school buses in the U.S. will be illegally passed by other vehicles approximately 218,000 times, leading to an average of 108 deaths per year. Car-bus accidents are chronically the number-one cause of student injuries and deaths in the U.S.

The new Transportant stop arm camera was piloted at the Platte County R-3 School District in Kansas, as part of its onboarding to the latest Transportant total school bus safety solution, which also includes internal on-bus real-time digital cameras and audio technology for continuous monitoring and communications with the transportation department, driver tablets with student rosters and turn-by-turn GPS directions, on-bus Wi-Fi, student check-in-and-out technology, and a mobile app that allows parents to know where there children are at all times during their routes.

“We’ve seen firsthand how existing cameras sometimes fail exactly when kids need them most—when weather or moisture interfere. With the new Transportant camera, those failures are much reduced, and the video evidence is sharp and usable. It’s made a tangible difference in our ability to hold violators accountable and build extra trust with parents in our community,” said J.T. Thomas, transportation director for the Platte County School District.

Early use of Transportant’s stop arm camera has captured close to 200 infractions of the stop-arm law for each school that uses it.

Built for K-12 districts, Transportant enhances safety, streamlines operations, and builds trust with parents. With an all-in-one system, districts can enhance safety, improve response times, and streamline transportation with real-time GPS, live-streaming cameras, automated ridership tracking, and route optimization.