As they eye the new school year the Williams Lake RCMP and School District 27 are reminding motorists to obey driving laws pertaining to school buses and adhere to school zone speeds.
“We had 36 reports of vehicles failing to stop for school buses last season,” Const. Colin Champagne, municipal traffic officer for the Williams Lake RCMP told the Tribune. “Thirty-six is a high number.”
Many of the school buses are equipped with video recorder and Champagne would receive copies of videos showing infractions.
“Some of the older buses don’t have video recorders so the report would rely on the driver grabbing a licence plate number,” he said.
Randy Cobb, School District 27 assistant manager facilities and transportation said it has been an ongoing issue for many years.
“It happens every week that someone goes through the red lights of a school bus and we are trying to educate people and let them know the RCMP have been really good at helping us out with this,” Cobb said.
Champagne investigated all 36 reports and in most cases people were ticketed and received a fine for failing to stop for a school bus.
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“To me, you think of our school district and the fact that 36 times somebody passed a school bus while children are walking or running to hop on or get off the bus both morning and night. To me that’s a significant safety issue that one day a kid is going to be late, the driver may think all of the kids are on the bus, they will start to drive and some child will run out from behind a mail box or car and get hit.”
Some provinces have implemented an immediate suspension of driver’s licences for passing a school bus and stepped up the enforcement.
Investigations into someone breaking the school bus driving laws have sometimes led to other charges.
“One time I seized illegal wildlife from someone, so you never know where these investigations are going to go,” Champagne said.
“We even had one where the Edmonton police service served the offender at their house in Edmonton. We tracked them down. They even had a rented vehicle.”
Collaborating with SD27 has resulted in better service, better follow ups, and one person dealing with all the violations, he explained.
“We had consistency instead of having different officers who have different work loads dealing with the same issue. This way it’s all one spot for reporting and school bus drivers don’t have to come into the RCMP detachment anymore as it’s all reported through an e-mailing system I have with the district.”
Champagne said he reports back after he has served the offender with a ticket, as to whether they are choosing to go to court or not.
“It’s a win-win on many levels. Last year was our first year and I think it went really well,” he said.
Cobb agreed, adding he hopes to see a decrease in the number of people going by buses when the red lights and stop signs are out.
The fine for failing to stop for a school bus is $368 plus three points on a driver’s licence. The fine amount increases with each infraction.
Staff Sgt. Del Byron also reminded drivers to avoid distracted driving, such as using a cell phone to text or talk while operating a vehicle, which can also result in a $368 fine plus four points on a licence.
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