Stop-arm cameras on local school buses are a ways down the road.
Barrie Coun. Amy Courser hopes the student safety measure will be considered by city councillors and school board officials later this fall.
“According to provincial data, approximately 30,000 drivers illegally pass school buses daily in Ontario, even when their lights are flashing,” she said. “I’ve received numerous complaints from residents, and I have witnessed, vehicles failing to stop when school-bus lights are flashing and children are boarding. These actions are dangerous and can lead to tragic outcomes in our community.
“I strongly believe that installing cameras on school-bus stop arms will greatly improve safety by holding drivers accountable and deterring dangerous behaviour,” Courser added.
The Ward 4 city councillor said she looks forward to discussing stop-arm cameras with other members of council and the school boards at the community safety committee meeting in late fall.
Student transportation services for the two school boards are managed by the Simcoe County Student Transportation Consortium (SCSTC) .
The Simcoe Muskoka Catholic District School Board said stop-arm cameras are not on the radar right now.
“It has never been a focus of discussion at our SCSTC board meetings and as far as I know it is not something the SCSTC is looking for our operators to implement,” said Pauline Stevenson, the Catholic board’s manager of communications.
Simcoe County District School Board officials could not be reached for comment.
School buses have stop-arms to tell vehicles, in both directions, to stop and let students get safely on and off the bus.
The registered owner of a vehicle illegally passing a school bus that is caught by stop-arm camera technology may be charged and fined, according to the MTO.
A first offence carries fines ranging from $400 to $2,000 and six demerit points. Each following offence carries fines ranging from $1,000 to $4,000, six demerit points and possible jail time as long as six months.
This issue began locally more than a year ago, in June 2023, when Municipality of Grey Highlands council asked the province to require all school buses to have stop-arm cameras installed and paid for by the province for the start of the 2023-24 school year, and to underwrite the costs for the implementation and ongoing annual costs for administrative monetary penalties, in small and rural municipalities.
That Grey Highlands correspondence ended up on Barrie’s circulation list the following September, and in January 2024 it was referred to Barrie’s community safety committee for further consideration.
In a Feb. 27, 2024 letter to Ontario Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria, Barrie Mayor Alex Nuttall asked about requiring school buses to be equipped with stop-arm cameras and the opportunity for provincial funding, as well as to pay for the ongoing cost of administering monetary penalties.
In correspondence received July 10, 2024, the MTO said it’s the responsibility of the municipality to work with their local school board/school bus associations to develop a stop-arm camera program.
It is important to note that school bus stop-arm cameras continue to be voluntary and are administered and funded solely by municipalities in co-operation with school boards, according to the MTO.
