SUDBURY -- This September, Sudbury and another location in British Columbia will be part of a seatbelt pilot project on school buses.
Last year, most special needs school buses in Sudbury were equipped with 3-point seatbelts.
"We have had a very positive reaction to them with children and also parents. They have made our buses safer from the standpoint of student management, as well as student injuries on the buses as well,” said Charles Breault, general manager of Leuschen Transportation, a large school bus company in Sudbury.
Renee Boucher is the executive director of the organization overseeing school bus service for 20,000 students, from four school boards in the Sudbury area, five area First Nations and the Huron Superior Catholic Board.
”We were expecting some issues we had concerns, however everything ran smoothly, the parents, the children the school boards, everyone who was involved really liked the seatbelts.”
Boucher also sits on a national task force for school bus safety.
“Transport Canada put together a task force to look at the additional layer of safety that we can bring to transportation. Although school buses are very safe as they are now, they are in fact according to the ministry of transportation the safest mode of transportation to bring children to and from school.”
Officials say there will be training for students about how to use and evacuate the seatbelts.
“Training our school bus drivers, our monitors, so that they as well know how to evacuate the bus with seatbelts,” said Boucher.
In September, three large brand new school buses equipped with seatbelts will begin transporting elementary and secondary school students on urban and rural routes as part of the pilot project aimed at adding an extra layer of safety.
