Transport Canada is taking steps to equip school buses with additional cameras in a bid to bolster student safety, the ministry says.
The move comes after Ottawa mandated perimeter visibility systems on all Canadian school buses. The system assists drivers in identifying the presence of children near the bus while it is stopped or travelling slowly, Transport Canada said in a Feb. 3 press release.
“The biggest safety risk for children riding a school bus isn’t inside the vehicle, it’s actually around the bus,” Transport Minister Anita Anand said in the press release. “With this new regulation, the Government of Canada is taking meaningful action to improve school bus technologies and to keep our children safe.”
The visibility systems use a series of cameras positioned on the outside of the bus to assist drivers in determining if there are any people near the vehicle prior to departure and offer “enhanced visibility beyond what mirrors alone can provide,” the ministry said.
The perimeter visibility systems requirement came into effect on Dec. 18, 2024. All new school buses will be required to include these systems beginning on Nov. 1, 2027.
The new regulation positions Canada as the first country in the world to mandate that all new school buses be equipped with this type of technology.
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Along with new perimeter visibility systems, the ministry also introduced requirements for manufacturers who choose to voluntarily install infraction cameras on buses, it said. An infraction camera can record an image of any vehicle that illegally passes a bus.
The new measures are in response to the 2020 report from the Task Force on School Bus Safety, which emphasized the need for new strategies to ensure the safety of children outside school buses, where they are most vulnerable.
The task force was established in January 2019 to examine the issue of school bus safety, both inside and outside the bus, the ministry said. It was made up of federal, provincial, and territorial government representatives, manufacturers, school bus operators, safety associations, labour unions, and school board representatives.
Transport Canada said an estimated 2.2 million children travel to and from school every day in more than 50,000 school buses.
