New technology expected to improve school bus safety

With the return of classes just over three weeks away, back-to-school preparations are underway in northern Ontario, including mapping out bus routes, recruiting drivers and installing some new technology on buses.

In Sudbury, there are some new measures that will take effect this fall involving a new piece of technology to improve school bus safety for students.

All school buses with the Sudbury Student Services Consortium will be equipped with tablets.

"I do think that this will help with the recruitment of bus drivers, with the turn-by-turn directions, with everything right at your fingertips. Able to see the students' names and all the access to information you need, that is definitely a lot of help when it comes to being a bus driver," said Stacie Rowlands, operations and planning manager with Leuschen Transportation.

It's information the driver can access hands-free.

"It helps the driver to know the name of the students as they get on and off so they have a better idea if it's a JK, SK, so they know that a parent must be out there at the end of the road to pick up their child," said Lynne Gelinas, the bus company's branch manager.

Students will be given a QR code to be checked getting on and off the bus and parents can download a free app.

"The notifications will tell them when the bus is approaching, when the bus is leaving their particular stop and when it's dropping off at the school," said Renee Boucher, the executive director of the Sudbury consortium.

As part of a pilot project, some buses will also be equipped with stop arm cameras.

The cameras capture license plate numbers of traffic violators and tag the video evidence with date, time and GPS location.

"We have some motorists that, unfortunately, don't stop for the stop arm. And as children are crossing the road, we want to ensure the safety of every child. So we are starting this with seven school buses, we are working in partnership with the Greater Sudbury police," Boucher said.

Officials with the consortium said Ontario passed legislation in 2020 that allows footage from the stop arm cameras to be used in court.

The Sudbury Student Services Consortium is reminding parents the last day for bus stop changes is Aug. 17. After that, changes won’t be processed until Sept. 19.