Fleet safety program at Aspen School District soars to the top of the class with Motive.

Challenge

ASD’s transportation department has a really tough job. Throughout the school year, they operate type C and D buses, type A mini buses, Suburbans, pick ups and box trucks. But, ASD doesn’t just transport Pre-K through grade 12 kids from home to school and back again. They also carry kids back and forth on field trips, after-school activities, experiential learning trips or athletic events, sometimes up to five hours away across rough mountain passes in winter weather conditions.

Aspen sits at an elevation of 8,000 feet, with its highest peaks at 14,000 feet and its valleys at just 3,000 feet. With 300” of snow on average each year and temperatures from 95℉ to -15℉, it’s a paradise for vacationers in any season, but especially winter with the best skiing in the country. The road can be treacherous, even for the most experienced drivers.

It’s a big responsibility for a small staff with a small, mixed fleet and a modest budget paid for by the 6,000 citizens of Aspen and the 30,000 tourists who visit the city each year. Weather, elevation and even wildlife are at play, but it’s the kids and the safe operation of their 70+ vehicles that takes top priority.

“Our drivers have to drive safely through traffic, with people on their phones, swerving into their lane, and under tough weather conditions,” says Reghan Mahaffey, director of transportation for Aspen School District. “There’s also student behavior to worry about. There’s a lot to handle.”

Before adopting Motive, ASD struggled with their previous solution. Safety events couldn’t be captured, tracked, measured or coached. Video evidence was grainy and unreliable and made it difficult to tell what happened when an unsafe event occurred. 

“Incidents often became ‘he said, she said’,” explains Mahaffey. “Without clear evidence, addressing these situations was difficult. Sometimes the cases would go all the way to court, other times they would fizzle out.”

ASD drivers have over 100 hours of training before getting behind the wheel, but even with that much experience, drivers can face situations that are tough to navigate. A common occurrence is oncoming or following traffic passing through the school bus stops signs, called “reds.” These situations are among the most dangerous situations for students crossing the road. Bus drivers stayed focused on the safety of the students but often couldn’t catch or jot down the license plate of the car whizzing by. Camera footage from its previous provider was too grainy and the numbers and letters on plates weren’t discernable.

Tracking buses around town was tough enough but it was even tougher for field trips or after school athletics. Mahaffey couldn’t communicate with drivers through the previous solution and could only view one bus at a time on the GPS. Athletic teams were often on the road late into the night or even for a whole week, up to five hours away. There were lots of calls from parents about when the kids would be returning and Mahaffey didn’t have an easy and reliable way to determine the timing of their return based on traffic and weather conditions. She also needed to be in her office to access the limited information she had and didn’t have a way to see her whole fleet remotely.

Vehicle maintenance and breakdowns were mostly reactive. Routine maintenance wasn’t easy to track and so there were unexpected breakdowns. If a bus was out of service on route – in town or hours away – Mahaffey couldn’t determine the reason for the breakdown. Was the bus safe to drive? Did a replacement need to be dispatched? What parts might be needed for repairs? She didn’t know for sure.

ASDs drivers aren’t perfect and Mahaffey knew there must be room for improvement. Speeding, cell phone use, close following, hard braking, and rolling stops were all possible and probable behaviors among some drivers, but she couldn’t know for sure. She also couldn’t coach all the drivers herself. 

With the safety of the kids and community at stake, Mahaffey wanted an automated solution that could coach the drivers in the moment when a risky behavior happened. Mahaffey says that an accident could have cost a driver their job unnecessarily, even if it wasn’t their fault. Without video evidence, ASD’s insurance company wouldn’t insure that driver and they’d have to be let go for a period of time. In a tough job market, Mahaffey couldn’t afford to lose a driver.

Cost is always an issue for a school district and ASD is no different. “The previous solution had gotten way too expensive for any school district and it just wasn’t meeting our needs,” Mahaffey says.

Solution

Aspen School District chose Motive and got a more powerful and more cost-effective safety solution. “Motive gives us a more complete view of what’s actually happening on the road with our drivers and our vehicles,” Mahaffey says. “Now I have one solution to handle telematics, driver coaching, video and maintenance.”

In a mountain town like Aspen, where winter weather is as much a safety factor as driver behavior, having the right safety technology is crucial. Mahaffey uses Motive’s Fleet View Live overlays for traffic and weather, keeping watch on snowfall, road conditions, and traffic congestion, especially when sending buses over the front range. 

The school district’s drivers have to navigate two mountain passes, and traffic may back up considerably in inclement weather. ASD uses Motive’s dual-facing AI Dashcams to ensure driver safety every inch of the way, and to respond to local ‘he said, she said’ incidents with clear video evidence.

“To actually have video evidence of an incident really helps us reduce unsafe behavior and liability,” Mahaffey says. “We’ll always have a lot of risk on our roads, because we’re a tourist town. But our own local people drive much more safely around us now because they know we have cameras on board and they’ll get caught.” 

Mahaffey uses AI Dashcams to determine which unsafe behaviors to focus on during driver coaching sessions, or to report unsafe driving by citizens to police. People in town used to run the school bus stop signs during student loading and unloading. Not anymore. Now, Mahaffey has trained her drivers to say the license plate letters and numbers aloud and the Motive AI Dashcams capture both the audio and video. Violators have been fined and some taken to court. Word has spread in the community about the fail safes ASD now has in place and these types of incidents have decreased significantly.

“In those situations, the AI Dashcams have helped a lot,” Mahaffey says, “and our local law enforcement actually loves it because they know they can reach out to us and get video anytime something happens near one of our buses.”

Mahaffey has used the Motive AI Dashcam to reduce unsafe driving behaviors like cell phone use and close following. In using the AI Dashcam to support driver training, she often uses dash cam video in safety meetings as examples of what to do or not do. 

“Being able to use the data that we’re seeing within Motive for training with our drivers is very helpful,” Mahaffey says. “I’m also able to pull videos that show student behavior. We’ll edit it for privacy and utilize it for student management training with our drivers as well.”

Motive allows ASD to manage fleet tracking and fleet safety in one place, making fleet management a lot more efficient. “Motive’s GPS function was a huge draw,” Mahaffey says. “It’s easier for me to go into the Motive app and literally have the vehicle location pop up. Before, I had to open a web browser, log in, and go to the area where it has GPS tracking. Motive has been a lot more efficient for us on the fleet tracking side. And, I can do it remotely anywhere, any time day or night.”

Field trips and week-long athletic tournaments or experiential learning trips are no longer stressful for the district or parents. “That’s why I really wanted fleet tracking and diagnostics with Motive,” Mahaffey says. “Something could happen on the second day of our trip, and then what? Trying to communicate with the driver and understand what was happening with the bus didn’t always translate well to ASD’s mechanics.

“Now, our mechanics can actually pull the engine fault codes right from Motive, quickly determine what’s happening and then tell the driver exactly what to do to stay safe,” she says. Sometimes that’s an easy fix for the driver on the road but other times a replacement bus or parts needs to be dispatched. “Motive has given us the ability to make clearer, more immediate decisions. And it’s given me a lot more confidence as a manager when our drivers and buses are far from campus,” she says.

Mahaffey has the Motive Fleet App downloaded on her phone, so she can check the status of vehicles during off hours or when she’s out of the office. “Whether I’m in the office or not, I can still get diagnostic reports if my drivers are calling in, radioing in for an issue they’re having, or if I just need to check where they are or what time they’re expected back to campus. I share the live tracking with our building team when they have trips returning from after school programs so they can estimate the return time and tell parents.”

Results

Since implementing Motive, the district has seen remarkable improvements in safety and efficiency, while maximizing taxpayer dollars. Cell phone use, rolling stops, close following and speeding have seen a sharp decline. “This significant reduction highlights the positive impact of Motive,” Mahaffey notes. “Motive’s in-cab alerts have also led to fewer instances of speeding and close following distances, enhancing the safety of both drivers, students, and the community.”

A notable incident underscored the value of Motive when a driver almost received a citation for an accident. The camera footage proved the driver was not at fault, protecting ASD from unjust penalties and maintaining the district’s integrity. “The cameras proved that driver wasn’t at fault and that the other driver was. This prevented our driver from getting cited and unnecessarily terminated,” Mahaffey says.

Moreover, the diagnostics feature enables mechanics to provide accurate, timely guidance to drivers on long trips. “Having our mechanics able to go into Motive and pull fault codes gives us the ability to make faster, better decisions and that helps keep our kids safe,” Mahaffey says.

Overall, Motive has provided ASD with a comprehensive solution that better addresses their safety and operational challenges, contributing to a more secure and efficient transportation environment. It’s also maximizing ASD’s modest budget. “Our drivers are a lot more aware now, and that absolutely has increased safety for the kids,” Mahaffey says.

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