Municipality ‘steps up’ to launch school bus camera pilot project

Nothing makes John Chapman angrier than when he watches a driver ignore the flashing stop sign on the side of his school bus, while a child is crossing the road. He says it’s happening now, more than ever.

Nothing makes John Chapman angrier than when he watches a driver ignore the flashing stop sign on the side of his school bus, while a child is crossing the road. He says it’s happening now, more than ever.

“We have two a day. That’s just across our little fleet. If you extrapolate that, two a day across the 18,000 school buses in operation each day in Ontario, that’s 36,000 ‘blow bys’ a day. That’s a lot of children at risk. That’s a big number,” says, Chapman, who operates Newry Coach Lines with his son and family near Listowel.

Fed up with provincial inaction, Chapman has found a partner to finally do something about it. The Municipality of North Perth is covering half the cost, up to $16,500, to install cameras on 10 school buses in the municipality.

“It’s not the usual role of a municipal government to be involved in school bus transportation issues. But this is consistent with our times. We’re seeing downloads across a range of issues, largely provincial swim lanes, that require us to either shrug our shoulders, and say let the harms to people continue, or step up and do something,” says North Perth Mayor Todd Kasenberg.

A potential, automatic, provincial school bus camera system is available, but with no funding attached it’s cost prohibitive, says Kasenberg and Chapman. Going it alone, at their own cost, is the best they can do right now.

The camera would be mounted just below the school bus stop sign and would automatically start recording when the stop arm is extended. When there’s a “blow-by,” the camera footage will be uploaded to a secure online portal, which Perth County OPP can access, to follow up on with video evidence.