Driving for change
Public Schools Branch makes presentation to standing committee on vehicles illegally passing school buses
Bringing back front licence plates and imposing stricter fines were two ideas floated by MLAs Thursday to curb vehicles illegally passing school buses.
Dave Gillis, leader of corporate services for the Public Schools Branch, and Catherine MacKinnon, co-ordinator for transportation services for the Public Schools Branch, appeared before the standing committee on infrastructure and energy.
“This is a very serious issue and it is an ongoing issue, and it impacts us all,’’ Gillis said.
He noted that when vehicles illegally pass a school bus, it also has a dramatic impact on bus drivers.
“These drivers love the kids on their buses,’’ he said, adding that some bus drivers have suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder from near misses.
In the 2016-17 school year, the Public Schools Branch reports there were 130 reported incidents of vehicles illegally passing a school bus while the red lights were flashing, a number it says is on par with previous years.
So far this year, there have been 24 reported incidents, a number which projects to 120 incidents for the year. Of the 130 incidents reported in 2016-17, 12 resulted in actual charges.
The fact that P.E.I. has the highest fines for illegally passing school buses in the country doesn’t appear to be a deterrent. The minimum fine is $1,000, while the maximum fine is $5,000.
It’s a problem that plagues North America, and that was a point Gillis and MacKinnon made repeatedly. Earlier this week, three children were killed in Indiana when a young woman in a pickup truck struck and killed the children as they were crossing the street to get to the school bus.
In Canada, 85,279 buses are illegally passed every day.
The Public Schools Branch manages 14,369 school bus stops across P.E.I. daily. MacKinnon said some of the problem areas are on Route 2 going into Canavoy and in and around Hunter River.
Gillis said they’ve done things to help like installing amber lights on buses to indicate the bus will soon be stopping, installing arms on the front of buses that fold out to stop traffic and installing cameras at the front of buses.
Some MLAs suggested maybe it’s time to require Island vehicles to have licence plates on the front and back of cars to make it easier for cameras on buses to capture licence plates, while others called for stricter fines.
MLA Matthew MacKay suggested suspending a driver’s licence for a year as one idea.
Allen Roach, the chairman of the standing committee and a former RCMP officer, said it boils down to one simple fact – driving habits have to change.
MacWorth Industries, an Island company, also made a Dragon’s Den-like presentation to the committee on a device called the invented highway safety prevention bar it hopes government will buy into.
It’s a telescopic arm installed on the rear bumper of a bus that comes equipped with flashing red lights, a stop sign on the end of the unit and a video camera equipped with a sensor that can snap a picture or record and break down a vehicle image in frames. It extends 6.5 feet out from the side of the bus in two seconds and folds back in.
Company reps said it would cost $5,000 to $6,500 per bus to have the province’s 300 buses outfitted with the device.
“We have had interest in other provinces, but we really would like it to start in our own backyard here in P.E.I.,’’ said Dan MacDonald with MacWorth.