The number of drivers illegally passing stopped school buses in Thunder Bay has been steadily increasing. School bus drivers have reported 737 violations so far this year, an average of 7.7 vehicles per school day. Despite efforts to raise awareness and work with authorities, school bus safety remains a concern.
Drivers illegally passing school buses in Thunder Bay remains a serious problem, the city's school transportation consortium said.The number of Thunder Bay drivers illegally passing stopped school buses has increased over the past few years. Drivers illegally passing school buses in Thunder Bay remains a serious problem, the city's school transportation consortium said.
The violations are reported by the bus drivers themselves, said Craig Murphy, consortium manager with STSTB. That information is shared with Thunder Bay police and local OPP. "We did a presentation to the city to show them there is an issue here, it's significant," Murphy said. "At that time, stop arm cameras were going to be allowed in the province of Ontario. They're just working through changing the Highway Traffic Act and writing the regulations ... in order to allow stop arm cameras, video footage, to be admissible in court without the need for an eyewitness.
Murphy said processing remains a problem. The province maintains a database of driver information, that would allow owners of vehicles that are caught on camera illegally passing a school bus to be identified, and ticketed.Murphy said there are companies that are willing to install stop arm cameras and process the footage, and send it to law enforcement if an infraction is identified.
"This is a database that the Ontario government gives access to private parking garage owners, private toll companies, private investigators," he said. "These industries all have access to go into the system anytime and access motor vehicle information, and who the owner of the vehicle is. But when it comes to stop-arm infraction companies trying to help us deal with this problem, the province will not give them access.
"These systems use a series of cameras mounted onto the outside of the bus, allowing bus drivers to see if anyone is around the bus before driving off,". "This technology offers enhanced visibility beyond what mirrors alone can provide. With this new regulation, Canada becomes the first country in the world to require new school buses to be fitted with this technology."
SCHOOLBUS SAFETY TRAFFIC VIOLATIONS THUNDER BAY CANADA TRANSPORTATION REGULATIONS
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