Chinook School Division safety campaign reminds drivers to follow rules near buses
The Chinook School Division ran a school bus road safety campaign in the last week of February to increase public and driver awareness about the legal rules they need to follow when buses are present on streets.
This campaign took place in the week of Feb. 26 when students were back at school after the February break and buses were again crisscrossing rural and urban roads on their routes.
Chinook Transportation Manager Kevin Jones said such a campaign can be useful at any time during a school year, but there were several reasons for this specific awareness effort.
The recent in-service meetings with school bus drivers in Chinook School Division highlighted concerns about the behaviour of motorists, especially their lack of response to the activation or flashing lights and stop arms on buses. Driving conditions are also more challenging during winter, which makes it a good time to remind motorists to slow down and to be mindful of buses on the road.
The in-service meetings took place in Maple Creek, Shaunavon and Swift Current to get feedback from drivers and to share updated information. Some of the information sessions at these events included speakers from SGI and the RCMP.
“There really wasn’t a driver in the room that hasn’t had a motorist go through their stop arms when they’re using them in the past year or past two years,” he said. “They’ll all attest to having motorists go through. So it is a concern that we did discuss and it’s a challenge. That’s why we want to share and profile this with motorists just to ensure they’re following the rules of the road, especially regarding school bus safety.”
Const. Tony Curti, the school liaison officer with the Swift Current RCMP detachment, spoke with local school bus drivers at an in-service meeting. He was
not prepared for their response when he asked the 47 bus drivers if they have seen someone ignoring a stop arm while students were getting on or off their bus.
“Everybody raised their hands,” he recalled. “I was totally, completely shocked. I was not aware that it was that bad.”
Some indicated that it might even happen multiple times on the same day. One bus driver mentioned a case where three buses in a row had their stop arms out, but a motorist ignored all of them.
“That’s a no driving zone,” he said. “So that’s why the education piece is important. I think everyone should know and be aware after a good dose of education and information. Hopefully that’ll be the key, but if not, that’s when these fines come into place.”
There are clear rules that motorists must follow when they encounter a school bus on the road and these rules apply to vehicles travelling in both directions. Vehicles must stop and may not pass once the red flashing lights are activated.
Vehicles must stop no closer than five metres (15 feet) from the front or back of a school bus when the flashing lights are activated and the stop arm is out. Drivers must remain stationary and not advance their vehicles until the flashing red stop lamps are turned off and the stop arm is deactivated. Motorists must check to see that all children have safely crossed the roadway before they start moving.
“The single greatest threat to the safety of children who ride school buses is motorists who pass the bus while children are loading or unloading,” Jones emphasized.
It is a serious offence to pass a school bus with flashing lights and a driver can receive a significant fine. Ignoring a stop arm and continuing to drive will result in a fine of $360 as well as demerit points on your license.
“Rear end collisions are the most frequent type of crash involving school buses and are usually caused by another driver failing to stop while the bus is loading or unloading passengers,” he said.
School bus rules might vary slightly between different communities, but it is important in all instances to be careful when approaching a school bus.
“Different jurisdictions do have different rules regarding the use of stop arms,” he noted. “We have a number of our communities in Chinook School Division where we can use our stop arms and there’s a few that we can’t. So it’s best to check your local village or community around their regulations regarding stop arms.”
Motorists must also be aware that school bus drivers are required to stop at a railway crossing and to look both ways before proceeding over the crossing.
“Motorists always have to be mindful that a bus could stop at locations where a vehicle doesn’t normally stop, like railway crossings,” he said. “It could be a number of other scenarios. Buses take longer to stop. So they’re going to start slowing down earlier. A good rule of thumb is anytime you’re following a school bus to be ready to keep a proper distance and be ready to stop, because school buses do stop more often than a regular vehicle for various reasons.”
According to Jones there are 150 bus routes within the Chinook School Division and about 135 buses that travel 25,000 kilometres per day. These buses transport around 3,250 students every day to 29 public school locations.
“We cover a lot of miles in a day and I’m really proud of the drivers for the job they do,” he said. “Their job one is keeping the kids safe and being very diligent following the rules on the road and the student management of the kids when they’re on the bus.”
School bus drivers have an important and rewarding as well as challenging job. A driver must complete a pre-trip inspection every 24 hours to ensure the bus is ready to go. A driver is responsible for the safe operation of the bus and for student management during a trip.
“There can be plenty of distractions inside the bus with up to two classrooms of students on board,” he said. “Knowing this, we ask the public to make extra allowances and be aware of the possibility that the bus driver may not see you or your signals based on where you are positioned on the road.”
Parents and guardians can play a role to create awareness in children about safe habits when they are using a school bus.
“Please remind your children to be extra careful when getting on or off a school bus,” he said. “Teach them to always listen to the driver’s directions and to keep their head up to watch carefully for traffic approaching the bus from either direction before crossing the road.”
Const. Curti mentioned that it is easy for motorists to become complacent about school buses, because they might see them every day on the road. The purpose of this campaign was therefore to make them think again about the safety issues and the intention of those rules they need to follow when encountering a school bus.
“When the stop sign comes down you know there’s kids that could be running across the street,” he said. “There shouldn’t be any danger if everyone’s following the rules. It’s when you breach those rules that it causes problems. In some cases, kids don’t get injured or killed, but it just takes a bad day and life is different.”