Transport Canada Calls for Child Safety Restraints

THUNDER BAY , Ontario - Canada 's traffic safety regulatory and policy-making agency called for mandatory child safety restraint anchorages on all newly built school buses.

"Transport Canada takes safety seriously," said Transport Minister Jean-C. Lapierre. "While school buses are already a safe way for children to travel, this proposal will make them even safer by enabling the use of infant and child seats."

But the Ontario School Bus Association says the additional costs will most likely be handed on to provincial school bus contractors or districts, as there are "lots of questions and not a lot of answers yet."

"There are a whole bunch of operational issues," added Rick Donaldson, OSBA executive director. "Who provides the car seats? Who installs the car seats? Who's responsible for putting the child in the car seat?"

The proposed rule came about a week-and-a-half following a Nov. 10 recommendation from the provincial chief of coroners that all provincial school buses should be equipped with age- and weight-appropriate child safety restraints. Interested parties have until Feb. 2 to comment.

Dr. Barry McLellan concluded that the restraints are necessary following a nine-month investigation into the death of four-year-old Allyceea Ennis, who died Feb. 12 from asphyxia while riding on her school bus, and at the behest of her parents.

Autopsy reports were unable to determine the exact cause of death, but ligature marks on her neck indicated she was possibly strangled by her balaclava or by clothing that became entangled. McLellan also called for mandatory adult monitors and first-aid, CPR and emergency management training for all bus drivers.

Citing Transport Canada and NHTSA studies demonstrating that passive protection through compartmentalization is not appropriate protection for small children on school buses, McLellan said that all children up to the age of five years and weighing less than 50 pounds be secured in approved child safety restraints, similar to prevailing provincial laws governing passenger vehicles.

He also called for increased responsibility of bus drivers and argued that focus should remain on a coordinated effort to recruit and retain thoroughly-trained and experienced drivers.

Meanwhile, a new provincial school bus safety law goes into effect this month, with another expected. The government now requires all new school buses to be manufactured with a crossing arm attached at the front of the vehicle to help children cross at a safe distance in front of the school bus. Ontario 's legislative assembly is currently reading another bill that would ease the ability of police to charge motorists who illegally pass school buses with flashing red lights engaged in the loading zone, with fines upwards of $2,000.