NEWARK, NJ — NJ Transit was awarded the 2021 American Public Transportation Association Bus Safety Gold Award in the large transit system category for transit agencies with 20 million or more passenger trips annually. The award was presented to NJ Transit President and CEO Kevin S. Corbett at the 2021 APTA Expo in Orlando, Fla. NJ Transit was also awarded APTA’s 2021 Rail Safety Certificate of Merit for commuter/intercity rail systems.
“It’s an honor to be this year’s recipient of the Bus Safety Gold Award and the Rail Safety Certificate of Merit. These prestigious awards are a clear reflection of NJ Transit’s continuing commitment to creating the safest possible travel environment for customers and employees,” Corbett said. “As the awards are independently determined by our peers in the industry, this not only validates the results of our agency’s hard work over the last few years, but it is tangible affirmation that NJ Transit is back as a national leader in public transit.”
NJ Transit was honored with the APTA Bus Safety Gold Award for its implementation of the Lytx DriveCam Event Recorder, a system of onboard cameras, data collection and assessments designed to address safety hazards proactively and to prevent unsafe operator behaviors before they lead to accidents.
After conducting a pilot program in 2008, NJ Transit began the implementation in 2010, with the fleet being fully equipped in 2012, and have continued to adapt the technology to improve safety. Between 2010 and 2020, NJ Transit Bus Operations has realized a 70-percent reduction in near-collisions.
Technology, training and risk analysis are all incorporated into a single system that is an integral part of overall bus safety at NJ Transit. The system is designed to modify risky driving behavior through coaching and awareness, measuring both the severity and frequency of risky driving events and identifying the behaviors associated with these events, which enables NJ Transit to focus on changing these behaviors to reduce collisions and near-collisions.
The Lytx system provides expert analytics, including video recordings, for NJ Transit bus training staff to deliver focused coaching and training to bus operators. The system provides 50 hours of streaming video per camera — with two cameras per bus — to capture what is happening inside and outside the bus.
The technology can also detect if a bus driver is using their cell phone while driving and if a driver fails to stop completely at intersections.
NJ Transit received the 2021 Rail Safety Certificate of Merit award for its work on Positive Train Control. PTC is technology to enhance rail safety by monitoring and controlling train movements. Using GPS technology, Wi-Fi and high-band radio transmission, PTC is capable of automatically controlling train speeds and movements, thereby reducing the risk of accidents due to human error.
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