All school buses transporting students in the Lambton Kent and St. Clair Catholic district school boards received mandatory safety upgrades in September.
Chatham-Kent Lambton Administrative School Services (CLASS) General Manager Kent Orr said each bus has been outfitted with a Global Positioning System (GPS), which is linked into routing software, providing real-time information on what buses are doing, safety assessments and auditing.
"We've also added external rooftop strobe lights for all of the school buses," said Orr. "That helps with greater visibility in fog conditions and reinforces the need for motorists to stop when the flashing lights are going on the bus."
He said they've added a number of new external cameras that face the stop arm.
"That provides video evidence to support the police in prosecuting if there's motorists that do blow by and reinforces the need for motorists to stop and keep those kids safe when they're crossing."
Failure to stop for a school bus with its stop arm activated and lights flashing, can result in a fine of nearly $500 and six demerit points for a first offence.
Orr said new child check mechanisms provide audio and visual cues for the driver, reminding them to do a "child check" at the end of their run.
"The mechanism makes the driver go to the back of the bus and disengage an alarm that's at the rear of the bus, and that becomes part of their routine, setting a habit to walk to the back of the bus and make sure you're checking the seats. If for any reason that doesn't happen, it will actually cue off an alarm on the external of the bus, so that people in the bus yard know something is going on and go out there and check," he said.
Orr said in terms of the number of drivers, the local boards have full coverage this year, something other communities have been struggling to maintain.
