Student Transportation in Ontario
Safety
- School buses are the safest form of student transportation. Statistics derived from the National Collision Database show that children who travel to school by school bus are 72 times safer than those traveling to school by car; and 45 times safer than those walking and cycling to school. (Section 2.1, page 4)
- School buses are painted a distinctive shade of yellow, and are equipped with flashing red lights and a stop arm designed to help children get on and off the bus safely.
- Governed by some 40 federal regulations1 and a robust set of standards, school buses also have a series of structural safety features built in that are specifically designed to safeguard children in the event of a collision. For example, they are mandated to have reinforced joints, high roof crush standards, electronic stability control to help prevent rollovers, window retention to mitigate ejection, emergency exit requirements, and a highly effective seat design
referred to as compartmentalization. - School bus safety is a shared responsibility among Federal, Provincial and Terroritorial governments, owners/operators, school boards,
and a diverse road safety community. The “yellow school bus” design familiar to Canadians is unique to Canada and the United States, with federally defined school bus classes and specific safety regulations. - The Standards Council of Canada’s D-250 Committee on School Bus Construction Standards develops further technical specifications for the safety and durability of school buses.
Other Facts
- There are 20,000 school buses and school purpose vehicles in Ontario and approximately 18,000+ drivers
- Over 833,000 students transported daily
- School buses in Ontario travel 1.8 million kilometers each day – equivalent to 40 times around the world every day!
- The Ministry of Education funds home-to-school student transportation to the school boards transportation consortia.
- Approximatley 150 companies operate under contract to the school boards – multi-national companies and small local rural family operators.
- emergency exit requirements, and a highly effective seat design referred to as compartmentalization.
School Bus Safety Facts & Stopping for a School Bus
Whenever a school bus is stopped with its overhead lights flashing red/stop arm extended, motorists must stop. Sadly this isn’t always the case and each day, there are many reports of motorists passing school buses, making it very dangerous for school children.
Since September 2020, there are three distinct ways to enforce school bus stopping laws in Ontario:
- First is when an officer observes a driver who fails to stop for a school bus as required. In these circumstances, the driver is directly charged and upon conviction will receive 6 demerit points and a fine of up to $2,000 for the first offence.
- Second is when the driver of a school bus observes a vehicle fail to stop for a school bus as required. In these circumstances, the driver of the school bus must note the plate number of the vehicle, along with the time, date, and location of the offence. The school bus driver is then required to submit the information to the police, who will in turn issue a charge to the vehicle owner. As you outlined, this is a very manual process and puts a lot of onus on the school bus driver to record and report the information. Because there is no evidence of who was driving the vehicle at the time of the offence, the vehicle owner is charged instead of the driver. As such, there are no demerit points, and the offence will not appear on anyone’s driving record. However, the fine of up to $2,000 for a first offence does apply in this scenario as well.
- Third is through the use of a school bus stop arm camera systems as described below.
School Bus Ontario supports 2020 changes to Ontario’s Highway Traffic Act to better support the use of school bus stop arm cameras to charge drivers who fail to stop for school buses. School bus stop arm cameras work in similar fashion to red light camera systems or automated speed enforcement (photo radar) systems, where images of the offending vehicle are automatically captured and then reviewed by police. Where the evidence warrants, charges are issued against the vehicle owner for the offence. One limitation of these systems is they do not adequately capture the information of who is driving the vehicle. As such, with all of these camera-based enforcement systems, only the vehicle owner can be charged. This means there are no demerit points, and the offence will not appear on anyone’s driving record. This being said, as it relates to school bus stop arm camera systems, the fines for failing to stop for a school bus also range up to $2,000 for a first offence and up to $4,000 for subsequent offences.