SAN DIEGO, Oct. 29 (UPI) -- U.S. school districts say they're turning to high-tech methods of tracking kids on school buses to make sure they're getting off at the right stops.
The Desert Sands School District north of San Diego is testing a fingerprint scanning system that will scan students as they get on and off the buses, USA Today reported.
"Kids get lost. It happens in every school district, every year," says John DeVries, president of Global Biometrics Security, maker of the system being tested.
In the system, students' fingerprints are scanned and added to a database. When they get off the bus, they're scanned for a "checkout" print. If the child tries to get off at the wrong place, an alarm sounds.
The actual fingerprints are not stored, DeVries says, but are converted into a series of numbers.
The numbers cannot be used to re-create the print, he says.
Margaret Gomez of Palm Springs, Calif., whose 6-year-old daughter was dropped off about a mile from her home three years ago, supports the idea.
"Anything is better than what they have in place now," she says.
