HomeMy WebLinkAboutQuebec drivers play 'Russian roulette,' driving past school buses illegally 30,000 times a day, study finds - CBC News - 06/26/2018 - CBC News - 06/26/20186/26/2018 Quebec drivers play 'Russian roulette,' driving past school buses illegally 30,000 times a day, study finds I CBC News
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Quebec drivers play 'Russian roulette,' driving past school
buses illegally 30,000 times a day, study finds
Bus Patrol analyzed 10,000 video sequences collected from 13 school buses over 45
days this spring
CIBC ° IPos ed: )uirn 26, 201 4„00 AIM IET 1I ILast Ujpdated; 4 Ihours ago
IBus driveirs say they are used to other iroad useirs inot respecding t1h6r siigins, (Radio.-Cuainada)
In Quebec, a school bus is illegally passed by a driver an average of 3.8 times per day
— something Robert Rego, the vice-president of Bus Patrol, calls "a game of Russian
roulette.”
With more than 8,000 buses on the road in Quebec, Rego says, that works out to
more than 30,000 infractions a day.
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6/26/2018 Quebec drivers play 'Russian roulette,' driving past school buses illegally 30,000 times a day, study finds I CBC News
In February, Quebec Transport Minister Andre Fortin announced the pilot project to
place cameras on 13 school buses in eight cities across the province to collect data
on driving behaviour over 45 days, beginning in mid-March.
"We analyzed more than 10,000 video sequences and saw behaviours that range
from ignorance of the rules to extremely dangerous," Rego says.
IRobert IRego, vice-Ipre.sideint of IBus IPatrol, tNiniks drivers are ignoring buses' stole-arirms because
they are clistiracted. (CIBC)
He blames drivers being distracted as the main reason the stop sign on the hinged
arm of school buses is ignored by drivers.
Pointe -Claire bus driver Michel Martin said he has to watch his mirrors carefully
when letting children out.
"On a regular day, we can't trust that drivers will stop at our stops. We see it
regularly. They don't respect them," Martin said.
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6/26/2018 Quebec drivers play 'Russian roulette,' driving past school buses illegally 30,000 times a day, study finds I CBC News
sclhooll bus its illegally (passed by a diriiveir an average of 3.8 iii mes Ipelr day ._ sornetlhiing the vice
1presideint of the oirgainiizatiion that conduced the suirvey callus "°a gairne of IRussian Roulette." 0o.56
'Hot potato' report
Rego said that while Fortin's office and the Transport Ministry were co-operative
during the pilot project, as soon as his organization handed in its report, it seemed as
if the government was treating it like a "hot potato."
Drivers continue to ignore, defy road -blocking pilot project on Mount
Royal
The Transport Ministry has passed the report on to a committee formed of the
provincial police chiefs association, the automobile insurance board and the
provincial school board federation.
That group is expected to make recommendations in the next few months.
When the pilot project was announced, Fortin had said the government would
consider a more permanent program once the data gathered by the cameras was
assessed.
Bus Patrol cameras are on 4,000 school buses in six states across the U.S.
Rego said that the first year the cameras were in service, there was a 35 per cent
drop in the number of infractions in those states.
20 18 C l.,ran a cl fes. "U.
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6/26/2018 Quebec drivers play 'Russian roulette,' driving past school buses illegally 30,000 times a day, study finds I CBC News
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