Waterloo Police catch Motorists in Violation of School Bus Safety Rules

Travel by school bus is generally very safe for children in Ontario; however, crossing the street to embark or disembark from a school bus is a more vulnerable venture, particularly when many drivers don’t stop as required.  The Ministry of Transportation (MTO) reports that about 824,000 children travel by school bus every day in Ontario.

In the past week, Waterloo Region police rode along on two school bus routes to monitor motorist safety.  Three drivers were charged with failing to stop for a school bus and six additional drivers were charge with distracted driving, on just these two routes.

An Ontario-wide study carried out in May 2015 for a five-day period found that every day, 151 vehicles passed school busses when they were required to stop. Most of these incidents (about 75 per cent) involve motorists approaching a bus on the opposite side of the road.  A recent report estimates that, in Waterloo Region, school buses are passed 100 times every day. A senior Waterloo Region traffic officer, Staff Sergeant Jim Strand recently told CBC’s The Morning Edition that people are seen failing to stop on every single ride-along taken by officers.

Officers accompanying busses on a ride-along typically record license plates for any cars that are observed failing to stop when required.  Officers may also radio nearby patrol cars to pull over and ticket the offending driver.

An amber light will soon be installed in busses to warn drivers that a bus is about to stop.  The head of student transportation for Waterloo Region, Benoit Bourgault, along with a traffic police representative have also voiced support for a proposal to install cameras in school buses in order to identify and charge drivers who fail to stop for buses when required,

The recommendation that every school bus be outfitted with seven cameras and a motion sensor would be at a cost of approximately $16,000 per bus. Police would be required to subsequently view the video and issue a ticket.  Initially, the Region would be responsible for the cost of the cameras, but it has been suggested that the income from traffic tickets may eventually pay for the cameras.

Police have commented that they believe that most drivers do not intentionally fail to stop for busses, but in many cases, drivers are distracted and not paying proper attention to busses as they are computing to work.

Ontario traffic laws pertaining to school busses require motorists to take the following actions around school buses.

For roads without a median, if a school bus has its red emergency lights flashing:

• Drivers in both directions on the road must stop.
• Drivers approaching from the front must leave a safe distance to let children cross the road and get on and off.
• Vehicles cannot move forward until emergency lights have stopped flashing or the bus begins to move.

For roads with a median, only vehicles travelling on the same side of the road as the bus must stop.

Drivers who pass a bus while its upper red lights are flashing are faced with a fine of $400 to $2000 as well as six demerit points on their licence, for a first offence.  For each subsequent offence, drivers will be fined $1000 to $4000, receive six demerit points and may face up to six months of jail time. If a vehicle passes a stopped bus illegally, the owners of these vehicles may be charged even if they are not the driver at the time of the infraction.

As a warning to motorists about bus student safety, a woman recently recounted when she was a child and was hit by a car as she was getting off a school bus, while travelling home from McNaughton Avenue Public School in Chatham.   The ‘at fault’ driver was attempting to pass the bus on the right shoulder when he struck the eight year old girl, the force of which projected her 33 meters onto the gravel shoulder. Some of her injuries included a mild concussion, multiple contusions and lacerations and a mild contusion to a kidney, but she was fortunate to have survived the impact.

Children are the most vulnerable members of our population and therefore require motorists to take particular care when driving in school crossing zones, around parks and wherever students are getting on and off busses.  Children are often not as vigilant or careful as adults in ensuring that it is safe to cross, which is another reason why drivers need to exercise caution. 

If you or a family member suffered serious injuries or lost a loved one due to the actions of a negligent driver, you are entitled to injury compensation.  Certainly no amount of money can replace the loss of a loved one or make things right, but the purpose of compensatory damages for losses resulting from a serious accident is to at least provide financial support for expenses or recovery.   The personal injury lawyers of Injury Lawyers of Ontario (ILO) are an affiliate of highly respected and experienced lawyers who have connections and provide service in communities throughout Ontario.  Call a local ILO office for unequalled representation and to learn about your rights given your unique circumstances.