Drivers passing school buses illegally a 'serious issue' in Thunder Bay

Student Transportation Services in Thunder Bay has launched a Just Stop campaign in hopes of bringing awareness to the ongoing issue of drivers passing school buses while their stop arm is activated and flashing lights are on.

Craig Murphy, consortium manager at Student Transportation Services in Thunder Bay (STSTB), said it's a "serious issue" and one their bus drivers have tracking since November 1, 2019.

"We're seeing an average of four times a day based on reports given to us by our bus drivers in the last couple weeks," he said. "We have seen an uptick on that as high as eight times a day."

'Police can't be everywhere at all times'

Murphy added that since bus drivers started collecting the data, there has been 255 reports made as of March 2, 2020.

"Certainly with the information coming in from the bus drivers, we were able to narrow down the areas and bus stops with the higher frequency of occurrences," he said. "We do give these reports on a regular basis to police but unfortunately...179 bus routes in Thunder Bay, police can't be everywhere at all times."

Areas on Algoma Street, Golf Links Road, James Street South, and John Street have the highest number of occurrences in the northwestern Ontario city. 

Murphy said the goal of the Just Stop campaign is to raise awareness, but also to find a solution to the problem, and that's why STSTB is pushing for school buses to have stop arm cameras installed for evidentiary purposes.

"We have been working with the city over the last several months to hopefully bring that forward to be able to have the stop arm cameras put on the buses," said Murphy. "School boards are definitely on side with this as well as we've had meetings with very positive means with the bus operators."

The Highway Transportation Act was changed in 2018 to permit the use of automated stop arm cameras; however the regulations for their use still needs to be authorized by the Ministry of Transportation. 

City looking at utility of stop arm cameras 

Norm Gale, the city manager said in a statement to CBC News that the city has created a sub-committee to look at the utility of the stop arm cameras, and will issue a report to the inter-governmental affairs committee.

"If the IGA (inter-governmental affairs) supports, then a recommendation will be made to city council which will then form our position," Gale said.

Other cities in Ontario are currently testing the utility of these types of cameras. 

Cst. Tanka Awosika, of the Thunder Bay police traffic unit, said having stop arm cameras would be helpful, but still thinks motorists should be re-evaluating their driving habits.

"I think any form of evidence that is able to capture an offence certainly makes things easier,"  Awosika said. "The messaging really should be that drivers should be paying better attention."

In Ontario, the fine for passing a school bus with it's stop arm activated and flashing lights on is $400 to $2,000 and six demerit points for a first offence. Each following offence is $1,000 to $4,000, and six demerit points.

The fine is issued to the registered owner of the offending vehicle, even if the owner wasn't the one driving, said Awosika.

"What is required for us as police officers, what we need would be a proper description of the vehicle, the licence plate, if possible the description of the driver," he said. 

Murphy said the amount of information needed is often a barrier to bus drivers who are looking to report the offence to police. 

"These are all things you have to get from a moving vehicle as it goes by your bus, while the bus driver is trying to keep an eye on the children and make sure they're safe," Murphy said. "So most often it's impossible to get all that information in order to be able to make a report to the police."

Currently the Just Stop campaign has bus drivers reporting the occurrences to STSTB regardless of the amount of information they are able to retrieve.