End of School Bus Safety Week
Ontario Making School Buses Safer
October 22, 2010
McGuinty Government Marks School Bus Safety Week
As another successful School Bus Safety Week draws to a close, Ontario is improving the safety of school buses by requiring additional safety measures for all new buses in the province.
Starting November 1, 2010, the government is adopting the latest Canadian Standards Association features for new school buses including:
· Shorter seats in the last row to improve access to the rear emergency exit door
· New roof hatch standards to reduce the risk of a passenger being ejected during a rollover
· Modified certain seats to accommodate a greater variety of car seats and to better protect the children sitting behind them
The government has already put into place mandatory safety features for new buses such as crossing arms, better side mirrors and more emergency exit windows, which have helped to make school buses 16 times safer than travelling by car.
As part of School Bus Safety Week, Ontario partnered with organizations, including the Canadian Automobile Association, the Ontario School Bus Association and local police services, to remind drivers about the importance of safety around schools and school buses.
QUICK FACTS
- Every day, about 800,000 children ride school buses in Ontario.
- School bus safety week runs from October 18-22.
- About 70 per cent of school-vehicle related deaths happen while students are crossing the street to get on or off the bus.
- A Transport Canada survey found one in three Canadian school bus drivers see at least one vehicle illegally pass a stopped school bus every day.
- As part of the CAA School Safety Patrol program, over 25,000 elementary students volunteer at over 800 schools across the province make travelling to and from school safer each day.
