THUNDER BAY – In the past three-and-a-half months Student Transportation Services of Thunder Bay has recorded at least 190 incidents of motorists passing school buses wiith red lights flashing and the stop arm extended.
Drivers on Algoma Street appear to be the most hurried, with a whopping 51 incidents between Nov. 1, 2019 and this past Friday.
South James Street, with 15 reported, is a distant second.
Golf Links Road (12), North James Street and John Street are the only other streets in double digits.
The organization, which oversees bus transportation at local schools, said the number is probably on the conservative side.
"These 190 instances are only the ones reported to Student Transportation Services of Thunder Bay by the bus companies from their drivers. Actual numbers are very likely much higher,” STSTB wrote on its Facebook Page.
Responses to the post suggest the number of people ignoring the flashing red light and extended stop sign arm is significant.
“So I have had this problem at two of my stops! I have a friend on the police department and he sent someone to one of my locations! They ended up catching one and when the police asked why he didn’t stop for the school bus his respond was what school bus?” said a poster by the name Sheila Traviss Stabler, who drives a school bus.
“It was confirmed he wasn’t on his phone just tunnel vision and not paying attention! Why can’t fines be larger and why can we not have cameras or a dash cam?”
Another poster feared for her safety.
“Victoria Ave E is ... rediculous (sic). I have to walk into the street so the cars will stop for my son. Hope I stay luck(y). And I have called at least ten of these in. Started videos and calling the cops with licence plates when I am too slow to the street,” said the poster, with the Facebook name Sarah Silvaggio-Mayo.
Another poster, however, said sometimes it's the bus driver's to blame for the confusion.
“I must say that I have seen a bus put its lights on and kept driving to the next block before even slowing down. Traffic stopped but the bus just kept on driving,” said a man identifying himself as Tom Zinn.
Here are the streets where infractions have been reported since Nov. 1, 2019.
- Algoma (51)
- Anton (1)
- Arundel (1)
- Balsam (2)
- Beverly (3)
- Carrick (2)
- Central and River (1)
- Clarkson (4)
- Cornwall (1)
- County and Wentworth (1)
- Court and Manitou (2)
- Crown and Bay (1)
- Cumberland and Nelson (1)
- Dawson (1)
- Golf Links (12)
- Grenville (1)
- High (1)
- Hodder (5)
- Home and Francis (1)
- Hutton Park (1)
- Highway 102 (1)
- Highwayt 11/17 (1)
- Highway 130 (2)
- Highway 61 (3)
- John and Hill (1)
- John and Mercier (1)
- John Street (10)
- Juniper (1)
- Junot (1)
- Lanark (1)
- Madeline (1)
- Margaret (1)
- North Edward (8)
- North James (10)
- North Vickers (1)
- Northern (2)
- Oliver (4)
- Ontario (1)
- Pacific (1)
- Parkdale and Coyote (1)
- Parkwood and Arundel (2)
- Pearl (1)
- Pioneer (2)
- Queen and High (1)
- Riverview (1)
- Rosslyn and RS Piper (1)
- South Edward (1)
- South James (15)
- South May (1)
- Sanders (1)
- Secord (1)
- Simpson (1)
- Sunrise (2)
- Townline (1)
- Valley (4)
- West Arthur (2)
- West Churchill (1)
- Walsh (3)
- Waverly (1)
