The OPP is recognizing School Bus Safety Week from Oct. 19 to 23 to raise awareness and encourage safe practices around school buses.
According to officials, the week serves as a reminder for drivers, parents, students and communities to stop for school buses with flashing red lights or an extended stop arm and to slow down in school zones.
Constable Ted Warman of the Huntsville OPP said drivers must remain especially alert during morning and afternoon peak hours, when children are boarding or getting off school buses.
“They need to pay attention to where they are in relation to a bus and what the bus is doing. If the bus is showing flashing amber or yellow lights, it means the bus driver is about to slow down or stop,” he said.
He said the week is also for children who use the buses to teach them safe habits, you know, proper bus etiquette while they’re on the school bus.
Warman says the safest way to avoid accidents and penalties is to stop whenever a school bus has its flashing lights activated, or its stop arm extended, even if drivers believe they are not close to the bus.
The charge for failing to stop for a school bus comes with a $490 fine, six demerit points and license suspensions.
