Canadian Police Association Launches Billboard Safety Campaign

BARRIE, Ontario - With the school year underway, the Ontario Provincial Police Association has launched a billboard campaign warning motorists of the dangers of passing school buses taking on or letting off young passengers.

Eight billboards addressing school bus safety were erected in August lining the east- and west-bound 70-kilometer distance between North Bay and Mattawa along the Trans-Canada Highway . The message, "Let's Remember Adam - Stop for the School Bus" and the safety campaign itself were inspired by the death of 5-year-old Adam Ranger, who was struck and killed in February 2000 by a one-ton truck that failed to heed the warning lights flashing on school bus the 5-year-old has just exited.

"Even one vehicle passing a school bus with red lights flashing is one too many," Staff Sgt. Rob McDonald said.

The billboards, which were paid for by the OPP Association and local businesses, are permanent fixtures on the highway for the next five years. With an additional $12,000 donated by the Northeastern Ontario Trauma-Related Education Steering Committee, plans for several more are in the works.

Also part of the safety campaign are decals with the same message that were affixed to the back windows of school buses starting in October 2004 and visor cards that bus drivers can distribute to people inquiring about the program. And as of Sept. 1, legislation went into effect that holds registered owners accountable if their vehicle fails to stop for a school bus, regardless of who is behind the wheel.

More than 800,000 students are transported on 17,000 school buses traveling close to 2 million kilometers - equivalent to about 1.25 million miles - each day in the province of Ontario, said Jeff Griffith, regional road safety planner for the Ontario Ministry of Transportation.

"Although there are few injuries and fatalities directly related to school buses, the majority of those do occur outside of the school bus," he said.

According to OPP Association, 13 children have been killed by motorists ignoring flashing school bus lights in the past decade and a half, and 80 have been injured.

"It's a concern we all share," said Richard Shank, manager for transportation for Nipissing-Parry Sound Student Transportation Service, which operates buses for the school Ranger attended. "Anything we can do to remind drivers to make that stop, that's part of the aim of the campaign."