The Road Crossing Feature
Prior to 2018, this feature was referred to as the 'California Feature'. Alot has changed since then (especially in California). This has been renamed to avoid ambiguity.
What is the Road Crossing Feature?
Way, way back in the 1990s when we entered CA, we needed to create a feature to allow drivers to take the key out of the vehicle and escort students across the road.
- We wanted to help ensure that whatever we put in place would help make sure the driver does not leave the bus for an unreasonable amount of time. For this reason, most of our systems in California only allow 10 minutes for the driver to walk children across the road.
- We also wanted to help make sure that if a driver was leaving the vehicle, fleet supervisors, maintenance, dispatch, and other staff would be able to tell that the Child Check-Mate System had not yet been deactivated: we wanted something you could see from any angle around the vehicle.
Most of our customers had connected the activation wire to the 8-way overhead lights (as recommended by CCM). This is a great source to connect to because if you leave the 8-way lights running, fleet staff will know that the check has not been completed.
Recommended Connections
- We still believe in connecting to the 8-Way Overhead lights. There are, however, areas where this will not work (e.g. if you have stops where the driver has to escort children across the road, but some other regulation prevents you from activating the 8-way overhead lights).
- If the 8-ways are not a viable solution, then we believe in using the 4-way/hazard lights. There are, however, areas where this will not be variable (e.g. if you have stops where the driver has to escort children across the road, but some other regulation prevents you from activating the 4-way overhead lights).
- If none of the above are viable, then we have the opinion of using the running lights.
- You can also consider using multiple inputs that are constant high signals (e.g. the 8-Way lights OR the 4-Way Lights). All you need to do is split the input and add diodes to each input to prevent feedback.
