"You can't miss a school bus; they're chrome yellow, they're big, they've got bright flashing lights," says OPP Sgt Dave Rektor
Big yellow school buses are returning to the roads, and other drivers need to be careful.
OPP Sergeant Dave Rektor reminds residents of the rules of the road surrounding school buses. "The big message here is that every driver when they meet a school bus that's stopped on a roadway with it's red signal lights flashing, must stop before meeting the bus or at least 20 metres before meeting the bus from the rear. And not move until the bus moves or the red signal lights stop flashing."
There are some strict penalties in place if motorists fail to follow those simple rules. "If you are convicted for failing to stop for a school bus, the first offence is $400 - $2 000." Rektor explains. "Every subsequent offence after that is $1 000 - $4 000 and 6 demerit points. You can even go to jail for this offence. And it's one of these offences where you don't have to be the driver that gets caught. If you're the owner, you face the same penalty if the driver can't be identified."
Police are very concerned with school bus safety after an abnormally high amount of collisions involving buses last year. "People are just in a hurry. There's no excuse for it, you can't miss a school bus; they're chrome yellow, they're big, they've got bright flashing lights, stop arms... But up until May 26th of last year we had 38 school bus collisions. That's an extremely high number. We want to see that to 0 this year."
The children involved in these crashes were lucky to escape with only minor injuries, but the driver who hit the buses weren't so lucky - many of them walked away with serious injuries, and a firm reminder about why we have these rules in place.
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