On February 26th, the driver of a mini-van collided with a school bus in North Gower, south of Ottawa.  Fortunately, neither bus driver nor the children on the bus were injured, and the mini-van driver only sustained minor leg injuries.

According to the Ministry of Transportation, about 824,000 students travel on school buses in Ontario.  Research shows that they are rarely seriously injured in collisions involving a school bus. School bus passengers are generally safer than car passengers due to the sheer mass of a bus, which provides a significant amount of protection if hit by a smaller vehicle, and also because school bus drivers generally have more training and skill than most car drivers. A common type of crashes involving school buses is a rear-end collision, which frequently occur because the car driver is not paying attention when a bus has slowed or stopped.

Far more danagerous than school bus collisions are accidents involving students as they are crossing the street to get on or off a school bus. A Sudbury school bus driver with 15 years experience recently described a disturbing incident she witnessed.  A woman was driving her car with her music blaring loud enough to be heard by the bus driver, and was also not paying attention to young students who were getting ready to cross the street. Only by honking her horn was the bus driver able to alert the woman to stop in time to avoid a potentially tragic accident.

In a one-week study conducted in 2014, the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) reported 755 drivers failing to stop for school buses with lights flashing. Another study conducted by the Independent School Bus Operators Association in May 2014 reported around 150 incidents involving drivers who failed to stop for school buses on a daily basis. In the majority of cases, it is the motorists who are approaching a school bus from the opposite side of the road who are at fault in failing to stop.

School bus safety is of huge concern for parents of school age children as well as many other Canadians. Children are the most vulnerable members of our society as they are sometimes not aware of risks and dangers.  Children typically do not pay attention to their own safety to the same extent as adults do. But even when children are themselves following safe practices in terms of bus safety, no one can be prepared for a situation when a car driver entirely disregards a stopped bus with its lights flashing and guard rail extended.  All Ontario drivers need to be particularly attentive and anticipate the possibility of children crossing the street when driving anywhere near a slowing school bus.

Ontario traffic laws require that drivers obey the following rules:

• Drivers who are travelling in both directions are required to stop when red signal-lights are flashing on a school bus    

• Drivers approaching a bus from the front should leave a safe distance for children to get on and off, and cross the road

• Drivers cannot move forward until the bus’ red signal-lights have stopped flashing or the bus begins to move forward

Fines for drivers who fail to stop include

• $400-$2,000 and 6 demerit points for a first offence

• $1,000-$4,000, 6 demerit points and possible jail time of up to 6 months for subsequent offences

School bus safety tips for students

• Be ready and waiting at the bus stop before the bus arrives

• Stay far back from the road while waiting for the bus

• Always cross in front of (not behind) the bus

• Walk far enough away from the bus to be seen by the driver

• Enter and exit the bus one at a time and don’t push or shove

• Walk, don’t run across the street

• Don’t stop on the road to pick up something that you dropped – Get help from an adult or the driver to retrieve your item

Inattention is the primary cause of all types of school bus-related accidents.  An obvious solution to school bus safety concerns is for drivers to always be prepared to slow down and/or stop when approaching a school bus. However, for some drivers, increased policing and penalties for failing to stop may be the only way to encourage them to practice safer driving around buses and students.

Some school boards in Ontario have begun or are considering, in future, installing cameras on school buses to catch drivers who fail to stop when the bus has its red signal-lights flashing.  Once the at-fault vehicle is identified, the police can issue tickets to the vheicle’s owner.

Until it happens to you, it’s easy to forget that a single act of carelessness or inattention can result in devastating injuries that forever affects a family. If you or a loved one were injured in an accident invovling a school bus, whether as a pedestrian or passenger, you are entitled to make a claim for motor vehicle accident benefits and may also sue the ‘at fault’ driver for damages.  Call Burn Tucker Lachaîne for legal advice on your rights, your options and what to expect if you decide to proceed with a claim for compensation.