Former Premier and Liberal MPP Kathleen Wynne is proposing a private members bill to make seat belts mandatory on all school buses in the province.
The bill proposes three-point seat belts in all new school buses by 2020 and retrofits for all existing school buses by 2025.
Benoit Bourgault is the general manager of student transportation services for the Waterloo region and says not only would the changes cost millions, but the extra liability on the driver could cause hundreds of drivers to quit.
“One of the challenges we have with the legislation is the drivers is responsible for anyone under 16,” says Bourgault who goes on to mention it would be very difficult for drivers to be sure riders are wearing their seat belts.
“If we look statistically at where kids get hurt and killed it is outside the school buses,” says Bourgault.
He says there are cheaper and more effective ways to protect young students including changing the flashing red lights on the back of buses to amber lights which flash two different colours and better alerts other drivers.
With reporting from Tyler Calver
