THUNDER BAY — Thunder Bay police and local school bus officials have a straightforward message for motorists: when a school bus extends its stop sign, stop.
Drivers ignoring the signal, which indicates that at least one child is either boarding or exiting the bus, is becoming a bigger problem, said Craig Murphy, the consortium manager of Student Transportation Services of Thunder Bay, the organization that oversees the provision of school bus services in the area.
He said, based on reports submitted by bus drivers during the 2024-25 school year so far, 7.7 motorists per day are ignoring a school bus’s stop sign and flashing lights. That number, he said, indicates a steady upward trend over the past several years, but ultimately, since it’s based on bus drivers reporting incidents, the real number is likely much higher.
“With the escalation over the past few years and the number of instances of this happening, it’s really not a matter of if it'll happen but when it will happen,” he said of the likelihood of a tragic incident.
“I certainly don't want to be standing here in front of you at some point in the future, discussing a young child seriously injured or losing their life because someone wasn't paying attention or chose to ignore the school bus stopping laws.”
Murphy, Const. Tom Armstrong of the Thunder Bay Police Service’s traffic unit and Darryl Piaskowski, the general manager of Iron Range Bus Lines, all spoke with reporters at a media event on Wednesday specifically to voice their concerns.
Armstrong said that police are on the lookout for drivers ignoring those school bus laws.
He said that certain thoroughfares in town see this more often, with Dawson Road being a particularly problematic area, as kids are crossing through live traffic in a 70 km/h zone. He also pointed to other stretches of Golf Links Road, James Street, Oliver Road and other main streets.
Still, he said, more and more incidents are also being recorded on quieter residential streets, and even semi-rural roads.
“It kind of defies logic why people aren't stopping for these buses and it poses a real safety concern,” Armstrong said. He added that police are doing targeted enforcement in specific areas, and also noted that if anyone can provide enough details or video evidence, police can either charge the driver or the owner of an offending vehicle.
The penalty, he said, is a fine of just under $500 and the addition of three demerit points.
School buses, he said, will turn on their amber lights before deploying the stop sign, giving other drivers a cue. Once the stop arm and sign come out, all vehicles behind the bus and those approaching must stop.
“We just (want) people to realize the seriousness of their actions and take this driving seriously and look out for these little kids,” he said.
For Piaskowski at Iron Range Bus Lines, he said it’s a problem that incidents like this are so commonplace.
“I think the part that's disappointing is that it's not surprising when it happens,” he said. “It's something you hear every day in dispatch — radio calls coming in to describe the vehicle and the location of where it happened.”
