North Bay, Ontario — Since the first day of school on September 7, the city of North Bay, Ont. has already recorded 29 incidents of drivers failing to pause for stopped school buses as they pick up children, according to CBC News.
Tim Feick, the general manager of Stock Transportation, which manages about 100 buses in the city, told CBC News, “We’re seeing an alarming increase in distracted driving.”
Equipped with cameras, Stock Transportation’s vehicles have caught footage of these distracted drivers. According to Feick, the footage shows drivers talking, gesturing with their hands, and looking at each other, instead of keeping their attention on the road. Tim believes that this, along with using cellphones while driving are the main contributing factors to this re-occurring issue.
Pierre Ranger, the brother of Adam Ranger, a young boy who was killed just after stepping off the school bus, is advocating for better bus technology to hold drivers accountable for bad behaviour. Such tech includes advanced camera monitoring systems, which will help police track down offenders.
