North Bay parents, school bus company concerned over illegal school bus passing trend
Every afternoon, Natalie Pouliot waits to pick her two children up at their bus stop.
She has witnessed cars passing the bus illegally and is always worried that something will happen.
“I’m not the only ones with kids on this road,” she said.
“Are they going to be neglectful and zoom right by?”
Pouliot isn't the only one concerned. Just more than two weeks into the new school year, Stock Transportation in North Bay said drivers still aren’t getting the message.
The bus company said in 16 school days so far, there have been 36 incidents of drivers illegally passing school buses while their red lights were flashing.
“So that’s when the bus is completely stopped and the red lights are activated -- that is what the Highway Traffic Act requires,” said Stock Transportation GM Tim Feick.
“So it’s not the stop arm or the crossing gate. People are still distracted out there and still need to focus, be aware and take precautions.”
The bus company said drivers are also still confused over the new amber light system. Ontario school buses were equipped with the lights this school year, which warn drivers the bus is about to stop.
Motorists are not required to stop when the amber lights are flashing, but the bus company is calling for common courtesy and respect so kids are safe getting to and from school.
“The law isn’t being broken. There may be a courtesy issue there,” Feick said.
“People need to travel slower and be more respectful and courteous of traffic. They may be able to anticipate traffic and school buses.”
Drivers who fail to stop for stopped school bus with its overhead red lights flashing or its stop arm activated can be fined anywhere from $400 to $2,000 and receive six demerit points for a first offence.
If they break the rule a second time within five years, the penalty is a fine of $1,000 to $4,000 and six demerit points. The driver could also go to jail for up to six months.
“What’s so important that you have to get where you’re going?” asked Pouliot.
“If it was your kids, what would you do?”
Pouliot is hoping motorists get the message.
“Just stop. That’s all you have to do,” she said.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Federal employees will be required to spend 3 days a week in the office
Starting in September, public servants in the core public administration will be required to work in the office a minimum of three days a week. The Treasury Board Secretariat says executives will need to be in the office four days per week.
Concerns about plexiglass prompt inspections at some Loblaws locations in Ottawa
Inspections are underway at more than one Loblaws location in Ottawa after complaints were filed about tall plexiglass barriers.
OPP officer said 'someone's going to get hurt' before wrong-way Hwy. 401 crash
As multiple Durham police cruisers were chasing a robbery suspect on the wrong side of Highway 401 Monday night, an Ontario Provincial Police officer shared his concerns, telling a dispatcher, "Someone's going to get hurt."
Canada's most wanted fugitive arrested in P.E.I. in connection with Toronto homicide
A suspect in a fatal shooting in Toronto’s east end last summer has been arrested in Charlottetown, just one week after he topped a list of Canada’s most wanted fugitives.
Poilievre returns to House unrepentant for calling Trudeau 'wacko,' Speaker not resigning
An unrepentant Pierre Poilievre returned to the House of Commons on Wednesday to pepper the prime minister about his drug decriminalization policies after being booted the day prior for refusing to take back calling Justin Trudeau 'wacko' over his approach to the issue.
Five human skeletons, missing hands and feet, found outside house of Nazi leader Hermann Göring
Archeologists have unearthed the skeletons of five people, missing their hands and feet, at a former Nazi military base in Poland.
Toddler of Phoenix first responder dies after bounce house goes airborne
A two-year-old child died after a strong gust of wind sent the bounce house he was in airborne and into a neighbouring lot in central Arizona, the Pinal County Sheriff's Office said.
Plane overshoots runway at airport in St. John's, N.L., no injuries reported
Investigators from the Transportation Safety Board of Canada are headed to St. John's, N.L., after a plane overshot a runway at the city's airport this afternoon.
A teen was found buried in a basement in New York. An engraved ring helped police learn her identity two decades later
For more than two decades, the unknown victim was nicknamed "Midtown Jane Doe" because she was found in the Hell's Kitchen neighbourhood of New York City. But this week, investigators finally revealed her identity.