Parents in Pender Harbour concerned that children are at risk because of drivers who don’t respect traffic rules around school buses could be closer to their goal of getting dash cams installed on buses.
During last Wednesday’s regular board meeting, School District No. 46 (SD46) trustee Maria Hampvent said the Board of Education is “exploring” the issue.
“There’s evidently a lot of traffic incidences of people not respecting the rules of the buses in Pender Harbour,” said Hampvent, who chairs the district’s operations committee, where the issue was discussed. “The parents of that part of the Sunshine Coast have made it clear that they think cameras on buses would be helpful to rectify that.”
People are primarily concerned about drivers passing school buses when their stoplights are engaged, according to operations committee meeting minutes from Oct. 22.
SD46 has received support from Thirdwave Bus Services, which offered to supply “dual lens cameras” at no additional cost to the district, but after testing the equipment, the district cited concern that “the quality of the capture may not be sufficient for the intended purposes,” so other models will be tested, according to the committee meeting minutes. The bus company has also agreed to “work within the district’s regulation on video surveillance, to ensure student privacy is protected.”
At the operations committee, superintendent Patrick Bocking and secretary-treasurer Nicholas Weswick also reported that cameras “may also help to address concerns regarding student or driver behaviours.”
Further discussion is expected once the committee receives statistics and other information from the RCMP on the number of driving infractions involving school buses, and feedback from the Powell River School District, which has added cameras to their fleet.
Board chair Pammila Ruth suggested the issue could also be raised by an SD46 representative who sits at the Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) transportation advisory committee.
