Prince George mother fighting school district over school bus stops

A school bus drop off point has a Prince George mother frustrated and fearing for the safety of her children.

Like many others, Fran Carmichael’s daughters get picked up and dropped off on the side of Highway 16 every day. She says it’s not safe, and vehicles often whip by ignoring the red lights;

“I once saw two loaded logging trucks couldn’t stop so they had to go around them. Now my question to the school district is ‘if they try to stop and they get out of control, where do you think that truck is going to head?’ It’s going right into the back end of that bus. It’s got kids on it and my kids are standing outside waiting to get on it”

She says the school district hasn’t been receptive to her requests for a stop change and she is “beyond frustrated” with the issue. She was clear that she didn’t want her daughters driven all the way home, just dropped off on a side street off the highway.

District Secretary Treasurer Alan Reed says they consult with the contractor to make sure the routes and stops are safe but sometimes the side of the highway is the only option, and that lights and signage are in place to get drivers to stop. He acknowledged that drivers occasionally don’t stop, and those cases are forwarded to the RCMP.

Prince George RCMP’s Corporal Craig Douglas says it’s tough to enforce because the school buses are always on the move;

“If we are around school buses we are watching for it. It’s something we get a lot of complaints about, not only bus drivers but from members of the public when people don’t stop for the red lights”

Douglas encourages parents to get license plate numbers of drivers who don’t stop for school buses. If you don’t stop for a school bus you can expect to be written two tickets; one for not stopping and one for disobeying a school guard. Both cost $167.