Fines More Than Double for Failing to Stop for a School Bus
Prince George, B.C. – Failing to stop for a school bus with its flashing lights on just got a whole lot more expensive.
Today the provincial government announced it has more than doubled the fine from $167 to $368. The change goes into effect today.
“It is important that all motorists understand that passing a school bus with flashing lights is dangerous and puts children’s lives at risk,” said Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure Todd Stone. “I want to thank the many parents, school bus drivers and school trustees who have brought this issue to the public’s attention.”
Prince George School Board Chair Tony Cable was pleased with the announcement.
“I think that’s really good news. The Board and school district has been concerned about bus safety so hopefully this will really put a stop to reckless driving practices and I think it is a very good news story.”
The change follows a review in March which found the previous fine of $167 was one of the lowest in Canada and not enough to deter drivers.
The review found that between 2009 and 2014 1,100 violation tickets were issued in B.C. for drivers that failed to stop for a school bus.
To date, no child has died while getting on or off a school bus though 14 have been injure
Comments
Good call. the violation tickets between 2009 and 2014 are only the ones that got caught. Many times the driver does not catch the license plate number so those ones get away. Motorists really need to “think” went school buses are out.
Good luck on catching the drivers going through “Reds”. They can’t get them now so what is increasing the fine going to do? How many people do you know that have witnessed an event yet do nothing to assist in reporting them?
The bus drivers have a dickens of a time getting these twerps dealt with. Nothing will change. Any driver must be able to positive ID for it to go to court. Try and do that when the culprits are going 2 – 3 times the speed limit even in the school zones.
Why are the districts not paying for cameras in the north? There are quite a few districts that have cameras on the stop sign of the bus or on the dash. Oh yes, I forgot, they couldn’t care a less here because they contract out.lol
The liberals sure are desperate for money.
I believe that money from traffic fines used to go to the city. So how does that make the Liberals hungry for money?
No, it doesn’t go directly to the city. It goes to the provincial government that does give some back to communities. The rest goes to the provincial government. So that’s how the liberals are hungry for money.
Maybe a person will have to get your own dash camera so you are not falsely accused by someone with bad eyesight.
The fines are a great idea..but what I am curious about is the math used to come up with numbers..$368. Why not $350, $375, or $400. Just wondering.
As for anyone who gets fined for this, our provincial gov loves you and thanks you for your contribution.
How about instead our provincial government loving you and thanking you, maybe the children and their parents love you and thank you because after you get nailed for failing to stop for a school bus, you might actually stop the next time!
The next time might have been the time that they hit and killed a child!
P Val, I’m A-Ok if you don’t feel the need to love me or thank me for pointing that out!
Ease up on the meds hart guy
I smell a early election coming.
Maybe I’m just being cynical .
What kind of idiot lacks the brains to stop for a school bus that’s flashing its red lights? The govt actually gave you dopes a drivers licence?
I doubt your driving record is spotless.
I doubt your driving record is spotless.
All I know is i had to pay for my licence. Not to many things this government gives away.
As usual we are getting a snow job from the Government. I am inclined to go along with saywhat and be cynical.
Lets look at the numbers. (rough)
3 Million registered vehicles in BC.
1,100 violations over a 6 year period means 183 violations per year.
Over 1000 cities and towns and villages in BC plus many other rural area’s so we have 183 infractions in a year spread over 1000 plus cities and towns. Hmmmm.
Revenue per year from 183 infractions per year @ $167.00 would be $30,000.00 revenue from fines @ $368.00 would be $60,000.00
They mention that 14 children have been injured while getting off a school bus, but they do no specifically say they were injured as a result of a vehicle accident or by falling off the bus. There is a difference.
There are a large number of school age children killed by school buses in collisions with other vehicles, or just hit by school buses, than there are by those being injured by drivers who do not stop for the flashing lights.
In any event you can see that when you put the statistics in perspective most drivers in BC stop for school buses with flashing lights on a regular basis, and the indication that there is a serious problem is somewhat misleading.
Seems more like an election issue than a safety issue. Having said that, there is no excuse for anyone not to stop for a school bus.
Obviously you missed the televised news reports recently on Global and CTV showing bus drivers yelling, actually screaming at drivers, telling them that they HAVE TO STOP!
The same morons that are against this so called cash grab are the same ones that are against the new distracted driving laws. This is a voluntary tax on those people that don’t care or are too stupid to see a school bus with red flashing light and stop signs sticking out. That is all it is, and if it saves one childs life it is well worth it.
The same morons that are in favour of this probably don’t care that a mistake means some people don’t pay all their bills that month.
Just take the minute or two to stop and wait for the kids its not going to kill you
$368 (wherever that number came from) is a petty fine for this in driving infraction my opinion. We fought for years to get better access for the bus to stop on our major highway 20 k out of town for the safety of our kids, then our grandkids. Just last year (35 years later) after a kid was nearly run over due to a car driving around the bus on the shoulder and just about killing him, the school district, angry parents, bus company and highways put their noggins together and finally changed the drop off point. $368 for the safety of our kids??? why not take away their vehicle too, as the Gov is threatening to do if you are caught throwing a cigarette out your window.
I don’t dispute the fact that drivers have to stop for a flashing light. What I am saying is that they state there have been no deaths, and 14 injuries over the 6 year period.
Seems to me that some posters here expect 100% compliance. With over 3 million drivers throughout the Province this is hardly likely to happen.
No doubt some of these infractions are a result of distracted driving, and talking on the phone.
Perhaps its time to look at the statistics for the number of people who drive their children to and from school, how many are injured as a result of that, and how many accidents are a result of the congestion around schools at peak times in the morning and afternoon. In some areas its gets pretty scary.
So cherry picking statistics to support a small aspect of a bigger problem is not a solution, and in fact does nothing to solve the problem.
It takes the same number of police to write a ticket for $167.00 as it does for $368.00. So unless you are going to provide more police to enforce the law your end result will be much the same.
Charging people with driving without due care and attention, and having them go through the court system, would get you better results, however it seems the Government wants to save money by avoiding the court system.
So that puts us back to square one.
good start. I still think they need to start adding 1’s to the front of the fines or 0’s to the end,
instead of $368, lets try $1368 or $3680 better yet
then maybe people will wake up….okay maybe they won’t.
How about we just kill them?
that is too easy
Just arm every bus with a Mad Max style spike belt that the driver can deploy when a boneheaded motorist whizzes by the flashing red sign.
On that same video of the bus drivers yelling at drivers there are kids getting off the bus and crossing the street from in front of the bus without looking. Just saying.
We have laws governing driving in school zones, we have laws about stopping for flashing red lights. We have police officers who patrol school zones on a regular basis, we have school bus drivers that report license plate numbers of people who don’t stop.
We have definite proof that fining people does not in itself change their behavior. Paying a fine just allows you to buy your way out of a problem.
We need violators to be tried in court and dealt with accordingly. What we have now is a system where the Government collects money for infractions, and saves money by avoiding the court system, and we have no real change to the basic problem.
A lazy society’s solution to a serious problem.
Good point. I’d go one further. Second traffic offense in a year, have to go in and redo your written test – at your expense. Third offense, have to go in and do the road test, at your expense. The thing is, for someone on minimum wage a $368.00 fine does mean not buying groceries. For me, and those like me, it means skipping a party at Earls or some other life affecting event. But for the wealthy, time is valuable, and when you take up their time, they pay attention.
Good Idea but how did most people pass their exam and road test in the first place?
Police officers do not patrol school zones on a regular basis. The police are well aware of the problem areas. Problem is you can spot a marked police vehicle or a ghost vehicle a mile away!
School bus drivers can only do so much. They are more concerned with the safety of the kids than getting licence plate #’s.
What is needed are cameras on the buses!
Look at the problems on Chief Lake Road. I believe it was the parents and bus drivers who stepped up to the plate to get big signs out there. Still happening with people flying through.
College Heights is apparently the next bad area with over 90 reports just last year! They are not all the same drivers.
There is no way anyone get the proper “stats” on how many drivers run “reds”.
The problem with Chief Lake is it’s hard to stop for the school bus when it “suddenly” put’s it’s red lights on and you have to slow down from a 110 km an hour. What they need to do is reduce the speed limit to something like say 80 km/hr so drivers have time to slow down for the bus. Oh wait, that is the limit. Never mind.
The problem with any area is 4 way flashers go on first (at bottom of bus), then ambers (which are yellow lights on top of bus) and finally when the driver opens the door the stop sign and the “reds” come on.
All this is done a minimum of 1-2 city blocks. So yea, lol Guess someone going even the speed limit can’t make it to stop in time.
When it comes down to it stopping and reporting vehicles are NOT the bus driver’s responsibility except to get kids home in the bus safely!
They just care about their kids. I’ve watched bus drivers so frustrated they lay on the horn until the idiots pass the bus.
Hey I got an idea put a set of Harley pipes on the school buses and blip them whenever a car is seen. How cool would that be.
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