For bus safety, let’s be proactive

As a former school bus driver, we always tried to set up our routes so that kids, especially small kids, did not have to cross the road to enter the bus and again after exiting it. For various reasons, this does not always happen.

Issues such as time, fuel and that tired old adage, “This is the way we always did it,” often won out over safety. Or parent’s complaints about the time their child was spending on the bus would often dictate how the route was mapped out.

Another factor is that spare drivers do not always want to rock the boat by reporting a potentially dangerous bad stop for fear they may not get called again and lose out on work. Money talks so they keep quiet.

There will always be fools who text, eat, drink, argue, speed etc. at the wheel. There is only so much we can do about them. But I believe that many bus routes should be looked at anew with a view to allowing children to enter and exit on the right side of the bus safely, even if it means some time and fuel and patience spent.

I urge all drivers to check their routes for bad stops and call the board office if it seems suspect to you. I also urge the English and French school boards transportation departments to do regular checks of all routes, especially those on major highways. And listen to the drivers, they know their run best. Bruce MacEwen, Charlottetown