Tag Archives: School Bus

camera, Dash Cam, driving, learning, safety, school bus RV, Skoolie, Sprague Brook Park, trip

The Dashcam (Black Box G1W-C)

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So, while I’ve been busy enough to keep me from doing much of anything on the bus in terms of improvements, I did get a chance to try out a new toy – the Dash Cam.

In doing some quick internet research I settled on the Black Box G1W-C Dash Cam as the best simple, cheap dash cam.  (Video reviews from CDLlife.com and US Dash Camera as examples.)   It has a nice 140 degree fish-eye, and a capacitor instead of a battery, making it more durable for high temperatures that can build up in a bus (or car).  It has g-sensor capabilities, so it can be set to specially record footage when there’s a fast start, stop, or swerve, as you might get with an accident.  It doesn’t record behind, but in the bus, it wouldn’t give a useful view anyhow, and the ‘Night Vision LED’ seems laughable,and I figured that if I was using it at night, I’d have the buses’ lights on anyhow.

I made some tests with my pick-up truck and a crossover.  While several reviews had indicated that a 64GB micro SDHC card, but I had no luck with it, but have had great results with a 32GB card.  With the 32GB card and the Camera on the 1080 pixel (HD) setting, I get less than 6 hours of recording time, but with the 720 pixel at 60 frames per second, I get more than that.  It has a still lower setting of 720 pixels at 30 fps, but if you try to play it at high speed, it ‘stutters’ and that’s annoying.

It can also record sound, which could be handy if I wanted to run a commentary, but as it stands for a regular trip, it would probably just be loud and boring.  And, after testing, I’ve found that the sound ‘skips’ when you speed it up, it’s not like a chipmunk voice sort of thing that could be funny.  But it doesn’t seem to save much data space recording with no sound, which seems a bit odd.

The dash cam has what could be a nice feature in that it starts up automatically upon getting power (it comes with a nice cigarette lighter/DC outlet to mini USB plug power cord that is about 12′ long), and shuts off automatically when it loses power.  I say that it ‘could be’ a nice feature, because it is horrible when you have glow plugs.  As you turn the key on, and have to wait for the glow plugs, an already plugged in G1W-C starts up upon having the ‘accessory’ power come on line. But when you turn the key to spin the starter and fire up the motor, there’s a moment where the accessory power fluctuates and the camera thinks it’s time to shut down, even despite the now constant power coming from the running motor.  As such, I had to start the engine and then plug the camera in.

I also got an additional attaching post for the camera, as the suction cup mount (which holds really well, BTW) is angled, and I was hoping to run the camera from the upper dome window where I had the ‘School Bus’ sign removed and replaced with glass.  I was able to test it in that window, angling the camera as high as the mount would allow (in the video below).  The additional post can be mounted to a flat surface (like a an overhanging board or windowframe molding) and allow the camera to be likewise flat.

So, what follows is a video, as I’ve just learned how to do the basic editing to stitch the videos together.  While I could have set the cam to record it all as one file, I’ve done enough computer work to know that data can get corrupted, and I like the security of multiple files.  The G1W-C allows for multiple settings of file length, and I chose the 5 minute one, which limits the file length to that, then starts a new one.  An interesting feature of this is that the files can’t just be stitched together, as they overlap each other by 1 second, giving a bit of extra security in case one glitches somewhat.

One downside of the cam is that I apparently left it unused for too long before this trip.  While I really like the on-screen documentation of the time/date, it resets if you don’t power it often enough, and as I was in a bit of a hurry to get going, I didn’t double-check it before we started off.  And what you’ll see behind the time-stamp is a nice hour-long trip from Buffalo’s streets to the tranquil and relaxing Sprague Brook Park, on a mostly sunny day that does a nice job working the adaptive intensity circuits .  And if you look closely, you might note my passenger, Aaron, in some of the odd reflections in the window.

So let me know what you think.  Is this too hard to watch with the center of vision pointing at the road, rather than the horizon?  If I tilted the camera up higher and the nose of the bus was out of frame, would that be too disorienting?  Should I just move the camera down to the windshield and mount the flat mount on the underside of the metal ‘shelf’? So many options.

(And if you can’t see the video in the post, it’s on youtube.)

Appliance, Door, Electrics, school bus RV, Skoolie

A Linear Actuator *or* The Magic Door!

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Being that things warmed up and I was trying to get some stuff put away in my shop, I decided to tackle the linear actuator and get it in place.

The linear actuator, extended.
The linear actuator, extended.

Now some of you may be pausing (or going to the search engine of your choice) and asking ‘what the heck IS a linear actuator?’  Well, it is a screw/worm gear drive that pushes/pulls a shaft along a straight line, into and out of the housing.  These are the things that move lots of slide-outs on modern RVs and trailers.

But, you might also ask, if you don’t have a slide-out, why would you need a linear actuator?  Well, one of the problems with our bus, when we got it, was that there was no way to lock it.  The emergency doors had handles, but they had no key-locks though, they could be locked with a padlock on the interior handle or by installing a keyed household deadbolt through the door to interfere with the existent deadbolt inside, which is what we did to the back door.   The front door locked like a dream, as it was one of the swing-lever accordion doors.

The front door, with the swing-latch in the closed and locked position.
The front door, with the swing-latch in the closed and locked position.

As you can see, this is really secure.  Even if someone broke the glass to get in, they’d have to reach up and unlatch the handle by the gear shift in order to swing the door in.  You might also note the cloth by the latch – one of the problems with the door is that the latch has worn and it rattles while you drive.

The swing arm in the open position.
The swing arm in the open position.

Anyhow, you might note the long rod that connects the swing arm in the center to the door.   When the swing arm is moved to open the door, the rod gets pulled in and pulls the door accordingly.  In looking at it in the right way, if the swing arm was a static unit, in order for the door to open, the bar would have to shrink, optimally about 13″ to open the front door fully.  It just so worked out that Firgelli Automations sold not only a linear actuator with the motor integral to the unit (rather than mounted alongside), but also a remote kit.

Now, I chose the higher-powered 12″ model rather than the 14″ one, as I didn’t want to stress the door by pushing it too far, and the bar just wasn’t long enough to take the length of the fully opened 14″ one.  But the high-powered one has a push/pull strength of 150#, and a stopped strength of 300#, which seemed pretty strong as a replacement for the 5/8″ steel bar.

Threaded bar end and the hinge at the door.
Threaded bar end and the hinge at the door.

In looking to replace the bar, I needed to save the threaded end that attached to the hinge at the door, and the collar end that attached to the swing-arm.  These were easily enough cut away with the angle-grinder, and leveled (as best I could).

This is a picture of my 12" linear actuator, open, against the cut bar.
This is a picture of my 12″ linear actuator, open, against the cut bar.

I laid these out against the actuator and things looked pretty good.  But where I had planned to weld right to the actuator, it turned out that the fittings on the actuator were aluminum, so I had to create some pockets of angle-iron that would be the way to attach it.

Parts of angle iron for the connector pockets.
Parts of angle iron for the connector pockets.

These had to be cut down, welded, ground a bit more, welded again, then ended with some flat plate and drilled so that they would attach to the actuator.  As the bar-end of the actuator was not a nice, square piece but rounded as the bar was, and then rounded to allow for a swiveling action that I really didn’t want,  I had to make the pocket that would connect to the threaded rod not only a tight fit, but also longer so that it wouldn’t swivel or flex at all.

The connector cups, fitted and drilled to be attached to the actuator.
The connector cups, fitted and drilled to be attached to the actuator.

So after a little extra work, I had everithing ready to put together.  The connector pockets needed to be painted to keep down rust on the new grinds, and I decided to go with the brass paint, for the fun of it.

Here's the new linear actuator in place!
Here’s the new linear actuator in place!

The linear actuator bar wend in place great, however I discovered that if the round, extendable actuator bar with the screws on it moves and allows you to screw it into the door fitting, you’re actually unscrewing it from the motor and it’s a bad thing ™.  Luckily, the bar screwed right back into the actuator, and all I had to do was detach the other end from the swing arm and then screw the whole bar in and it worked out fine.

The remote, inside the door switch area. The wires for the linear actuator go out through an existing hole in the bottom.
The remote, inside the door switch area. The wires for the linear actuator go out through an existing hole in the bottom.

I decided to use the space inside the door switch area of the swing arm to mount the remote, which worked well, as it already had a power line and ground screw in place.  The best thing about this placement is that the wires from the actuator don’t hang up on the swing arm when I use that.  With the actuator fully extended, the door operates normally.  With the swing arm locked, it works like this:

True it doesn’t open quite all the way, but it’s enough to get into and out of the bus, and the full extension of the linear actuator closes the door up snug enough that the door handle doesn’t chatter because it’s loose and worn anymore.

Now, all I need to do is get a DPDT swtich to run the door from inside, and it will be perfect.  But for right now, I have a keychain remote door lock for the bus!

Bus Driver, driving, learning, safety, School Bus

On The Road – Road Rage

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Recently, we’ve had more road-rage on our area roads, the latest being this one, caught on camera on the NY I-290.  This might seem tame, a pick-up all but forcing a sedan off the road, then the driver getting out to throw rocks at the leaving sedan, but for our area that’s pretty bad.

See, a whole lot of the highway system in and around Buffalo was designed in the 1950’s as part of the New York State Thruway System, and at that time, Buffalo had nearly 900,000 people in it’s metropolitan area, and was expected to continue to grow.  These roadways were designed to be forward-thinking, looking toward that expansion, but with the decline of manufacturing and the change in shipping that the Welland Canal (in Ontario) made allowing ocean-going ships to bypass Buffalo’s harbor and continue from Lake Ontario straight on to Erie and the rest of the Great Lakes, the population growth was no-where near expected (and for the city itself, a decline), meaning that our roadways are (generally speaking) overbuilt for the traffic they get.  Our ‘rush hour’ might delay you all of 5 minutes – maybe 30 if there’s a bad accident.

As a school bus driver, you really have to be good about keeping yourself calm.  School buses can clog up traffic, being the only vehicles that can stop ALL traffic (that’s right, ambulances, fire trucks, and police emergency vehicles have to stop for a school bus’ red flashing lights), and on narrow, tight streets being wider than cars, their very presence can make a road impassible for other vehicles.  We got a lot of ‘three lane’ roads (two-lanes of traffic, one of parked cars) that became ‘one-lane’ roads with the parked cars and snowbanks over this winter.

And over this past year of driving I have had numerous people bitching at me/my bus when I needed to make a turn onto a street they were on, and I had to wait for them before I could go, or when there was a ‘one-lane’ street where my bus was already moving in the one lane and they had to pull over into the parked cars on their side and wait for my bus to pass, or where I blocked up the road to wait for my 30 seconds at the stop where there was no student out and waiting for the bus.  And some of these people have cut around me really unsafely, slammed on their brakes in front of my bus, or not moved when a light turned green ahead of me, all while watching for my reactions, (I’m guessing) because they wanted to make sure that they were annoying me as much as I apparently annoyed them.

But, as a professional driver, you have to let that stuff go.  You have to recognize that sometimes the safest thing to do is let these idiots have space, and get out their aggression without reacting to their provocations.  And sometimes it isn’t easy.

Here are some sites that give advice on how to avoid road rage in yourself and your driving, and also avoiding being the victim of road rage:

And a lot of what they have to say boils down to a couple of important things:

  • Drive Safe: Don’t engage in dangerous driving yourself.  Leave space between you and other drivers, don’t speed or go overly slowly if you don’t need to.
  • Help other drivers out: If someone really wants to get around you and go speeding in a place you’re not, let them.  Try and pull over, or give them an opportunity to pass (though you might want to keep an eye on them ahead of you in case they’re really unsafe).
  • Don’t Engage:  Avoid direct eye contact, if you’re going to give them a gesture, make it a placating or ‘I’m sorry’ gesture rather than one that escalates things and makes them more angry.
  • Keep Your Own Calm:  Whatever troubles these other drivers have, don’t let them affect you personally.  If you are driving safely, and being reasonably aware of and kind to other drivers and someone gets upset with that, that’s their problem, not yours.

And while a lot of this sounds simple, it often isn’t.  School bus drivers want to keep to their schedules, especially if they have to do runs for multiple schools. My morning run includes two schools, and some at my terminal have three schools.  A 20 minute delay on my first school means that I’ll be 10-15 minutes late for all the pick-ups for my second school, for example.  And one of the things a school bus driver has to come to terms with is that if you’re safely driving your bus, you won’t make up time.  That said, some drivers fall prey to trying to get back on schedule and thus drop some of the safety.

For most drivers, this is akin to your being on time for getting to work, or to pick up your kids, or make that date.  Speeding on highways CAN make your trip faster over hundreds of miles.  Speeding on city streets generally doesn’t pay off, as stop signs and stop lights break down what you might gain, and, of course, your stopping time/distance grows as your speed does.

I think that driving a school bus and being forced to be so safety conscious and aware of how much space my vehicle is taking up on the road and where it is has made me not only a better driver, but a much calmer one.  I watch other people struggle and jockey for position on the road and let them at it.

The bottom line, if being safe makes me late, then I’ll be late.  If I’m going to be throwing rocks at a vehicle, it’ll be for a good reason like this:  Daring rescue saves driver of burning truck.

Update 03/22/15: They’ve caught the driver of the pick-up in the video above, and are charging him with first degree reckless endangerment, a class D felony.  It’s no joke!