Parents, bus driver fed up with 'epidemic' of motorists not stopping for school buses

A school bus driver is warning of "an epidemic" of motorists blowing past his flashing lights and stop arm, and he's seen his fair share of close calls.

Joe Pilgrim recalled an incident when he watched in horror as a truck sped toward his bus as two little girls were stepping off. 

One girl was already in front of the bus, so he blew the horn to warn her.

"The other one was going down the steps and I grabbed her by the hood of her coat and yelled," he said.

"I tell you, it was scary.… All I could see was those two little girls squashed on the street."

He paused a moment as that thought took over. His chin quivered.

"Probably took me five minutes for my heartbeat to go down low enough where I could continue," Pilgrim said.

This school bus driver has had enough with drivers endangering his students

6 years ago

Duration 0:57

Joe Pilgrim says vehicles blow past him on the four lane road through Conception Bay South, and now the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary has come to help.

It's a constant source of worry for Pilgrim, whose route is in Conception Bay South — twice a day, he is responsible for a bus filled with children. One day he counted 14 drivers who didn't stop.

"If something happened to them, I don't know what I'd do. I'd be devastated," he said.

Drivers just keep on going

Parents are frightened — and fed up — too. 

Laura Mason, a parent of a Grade 6 student at St. George's Elementary, is one of them

"On the daily, twice a day … you see drivers blowing through," she said.

Mason, and other parents, have taken to leaning on their car horns to get the attention of drivers who seem oblivious to the red flashing lights on the school bus. 

It really hasn't made a difference in the seven years she has been dropping off and picking up her child at the same bus stop in Conception Bay South.

"There are a lot of horns blowing so you figure something is up, maybe they'll stop … but they'll keep going," Mason said.

"[We're] trying to get our kids off the bus safe."

Police get calls daily

The Royal Newfoundland Constabulary said it receives complaints from bus drivers and the public almost every day about drivers not stopping for a school bus that has extended its arm and activated its flashing lights.

"A child could be significantly injured, if not killed as a result of being struck by a vehicle in this area," said acting Sgt. Karen Didham.

The law was changed in 2016 to make it easier to catch offenders; instead of having to identify the driver, it's now the owner of the vehicle who is on the hook.

That means the public can report offenders to police by licence plate only.

"If people came forward to the police with licence plates, we will gladly issue a ticket," said Didham. 

But there is a caveat. If the person contests the ticket, the witness who reported the incident may be required to go to court.

Bus driver Joe Pilgrim said that's a small price to pay to help crackdown on the ongoing issue.

"It's an epidemic, in my opinion," he said. "Every day, it never fails."

He believes offenders are either too distracted to notice the sign, don't care, or they simply don't know they are required to stop.

None of those are valid excuses for breaking the law, Pilgrim said, and he's imploring people to consider what's at stake.

"They're children, they're carefree. They could run across the road in front of the bus and not even think about what they're doing," Pilgrim said. 

"When you see a school bus and you see those lights flashing … for goodness sake, stop, because you could kill a child."

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