THUNDER BAY —School buses will return to the road next week equipped with a new set of flashing amber lights.
These lights will be activated to warn drivers that a bus is about to stop to pick up or drop off a student.
They are designed to catch the attention of motorists, get them to slow down, and to decrease the number of drivers who fail to stop for buses once red flashing lights are activated.
When a bus comes to a full stop, its red flashing lights will be activated and a stop sign will extend out from the driver's side of the bus.
Motorists coming from either direction who then fail to stop are subject to a fine and demerit points.
The Ontario government mandated earlier this year that all buses be retrofitted with the amber warning lights by Sept.1, thereby bringing the province in line with most other jurisdictions in Canada and the U.S.
In Thunder Bay, retired OPP Constable Gary Cooper is a long-time advocate for school bus safety.
He says he's glad to "finally see a change to the eight-light system on our school buses. It's taken awhile for us to join the rest of Canada, because this has been active all across Canada for years."
The chair of the Let's Remember Adam campaign in northeastern Ontario, Pierre Ranger, has said "We feel that it's going to cut down on confusion and make it a lot easier for the general public and the driving public to understand what that school bus is doing."
His five-year-old brother Adam was killed in 2000 when he was struck by a truck after exiting a school bus in North Bay.
