As the summer days dwindle for children in Peterborough, local police forces and municipal governments are aiming to keep safety on the radar of drivers as students head back to school after Labour Day.
In partnership with Peterborough County, the Township of Cavan Monaghan, the Township of Selwyn, and the Municipality of Trent Lakes, the Peterborough County detachment of the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) along with the Peterborough Police Service will be increasing traffic enforcement in Peterborough and area school zones this fall.
They are reminding drivers to take extra precautions as school buses return to the roads on Tuesday, September 3. Safety measures include slowing down in school zones, planning to leave early, giving at least one metre of clearance to cyclists, and stopping for school buses.
“As the new school year begins, the Peterborough County OPP reminds drivers to stay alert,” said Peterborough County OPP’s inspector and detachment commander Chris Galeazza in a media release.
“With children returning to sidewalks, crossing guards at intersections, and school buses back on the roads, safety needs to be every driver’s top priority. Please plan for potential delays and exercise patience and caution to ensure a safe journey for all.”
The OPP and Peterborough police remind motorists about these rules of the road:
- Drivers must stop for school buses that are stopped with their lights flashing
- Speeding in a school zone can result in fines and the loss of demerit points
- Crossing guards have the right to stop traffic at crosswalks — abide by their direction
- Drivers must wait until the crossing guard is no longer on the roadway before proceeding.
To keep school children safe, both the OPP and Peterborough police will be monitoring and issuing tickets as required for offences in school zones and community safety zones, the release noted.
“As fall begins, school bells will ring, yellow buses will hit the roads, and young students will be crossing streets to get to and from school,” added Peterborough County Warden Bonnie Clark.
“In Peterborough County, our roads are shared by cars, trucks, farm vehicles, school buses, cyclists, pedestrians, and more. Please drive with caution; stay alert, leave early, stop for buses, give room to cyclists, and yield at pedestrian crossings.”
“Thank you to our local police services for your support with enforcement in school zones this fall. Let’s all do our part to ensure a successful and safe school year for all students.”
The Safe School Zones campaign is funded by Peterborough County’s active transportation master plan. For more information, visit the county’s website at www.ptbocounty.ca/atmp.
“Back to school is an exciting time — we want it to be a safe time as well whether students are walking, cycling or taking the bus,” said Peterborough police chief Stuart Betts. “There are new traffic calming measures in place and the City of Peterborough has deemed school zones as community safety zones, which come with slower speeds and increased fines. We ask motorists to slow down, be extra vigilant as well as patient.”
Overall, September is a dangerous month for pedestrians, with more fatalities occurring during this month of the year than in any other, the release noted, citing a 2017 Transport Canada report.
According to polling conducted by the Canadian Automobile Association (CAA) in 2019, the top three unsafe motorist behaviours seen in Canadian school zones are speeding, illegal parking or stopping. and distracted driving. The same source noted nearly one-quarter of drivers report witnessing a near miss or a collision in a school zone, more than half of which involved a child.
Meanwhile, in the City of Kawartha Lakes, the Trillium Lakelands District School Board (TLDSB), Kawartha Lakes Bus Lines, and Kawartha Lakes OPP are launching a school bus stop arm camera pilot program for the new school year. For the first time ever in Kawartha Lakes, local school buses will be equipped with a stop arm camera to capture and report unsafe driving practices to the Kawartha Lakes OPP in real time.
Funded equally by TLDSB and the municipality, the pilot program was created in response to a significant rise of reported incidents from school bus drivers and local residents regarding unsafe practices when a school bus is stopped. In the 2023-24 school year alone, Kawartha Lakes Bus Lines reported 380 incidents of vehicles going through the red lights of a stopped school bus. Other school bus operators in Kawartha Lakes have reported similar rises in such incidents.
“Every year, we respond to far too many complaints and close calls related to motorists failing to stop for a school bus,” said Kawartha Lakes OPP detachment commander Tim Tatchell in a media release. “The hope is that this pilot program will encourage all drivers to respect the rules of the road when it comes to school buses.”
The school bus stop arm camera can capture clear images of a car’s licence plate if it drives past the extended stop arm on a bus, and will also record the date and time and GPS coordinates of the incident. The camera footage will be used by an OPP officer when investigating a violation reported by a school bus driver. The OPP will follow up with the registered owner of the vehicle and lay the appropriate charges.
Under changes to the Highway Traffic Act, the OPP is not required to identify the driver of the vehicle. The registered owner of the vehicle will be the one charged no matter who was driving, similar to red light cameras and speed cameras. The registered owner will face a fine of $490 (for first-time offenders) but no demerit points will be added to their licence.
As for back-to-school traffic safety, both drivers and parents can find detailed information at www.ontario.ca/page/school-bus-safety.
For drivers, the provincial government’s website recommends the following:
- When driving near school buses, if a bus approaches, watch to see if the bus slows down and flashes its overhead amber lights, which signals that the bus is coming to a stop. When the bus then stops to pick-up or drop off passengers, slow down and prepare to stop whether behind or approaching a bus.
- If travelling on a road with a median strip, only vehicles coming from behind the bus should prepare to stop.
- Watch if the bus stops and flashes its lights or activates its stop arms. This means that the bus has stopped to pick up or drop off passengers. It is dangerous and illegal to fail to stop for a stopped school bus that has its overhead red lights flashing or its stop arm activated.
- Roads without a median require drivers travelling in both directions to stop when the bus is stopped and flashing its overhead red lights or its stop arm is activated.
- Before proceeding to drive, motorists must wait for the bus to start moving, for the overhead red lights to stop flashing, and for the stop arm to be retracted.
