BSD preps for new school bus safety measures

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This article was published 11/02/2025 (408 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Brandon School Division (BSD) is preparing to implement a new federal safety measure that will require all new school buses to be equipped with perimeter visibility systems, a move aimed at improving student safety.

The regulation, introduced by Transport Canada, mandates that all newly manufactured school buses must have the system installed by November 2027.

The federal government’s push for improved school bus safety follows recommendations from the 2020 Task Force on School Bus Safety, which identified risks for children outside of the bus as a key area for improvement.

Perimeter visibility systems help drivers detect children around the bus while it is stopped or travelling slowly.

BSD awaits further details on the availability of perimeter visibility systems as the requirement is for the next two years, Supt. Mathew Gustafson told the Sun.

“We anticipate the new perimeter visibility system requirement will be installed on new school buses prior to the division taking possession of the buses,” he said in an email.

While the regulation only applies to new buses, BSD has not yet determined whether retrofitting older buses with similar safety technology will be feasible.

“We have not seen the new perimeter visibility systems at this point, so we are unsure if retrofitting older buses is possible,” Gustafson added. Given this uncertainty, the division has not yet announced whether it will phase out older buses sooner to align with the new federal standards.

One of the safety concerns for the division is the issue of vehicles illegally passing stopped school buses when their stop signs are activated. The division records between zero to five instances of such violations weekly, raising concerns about the potential risks to students boarding or exiting buses.

To combat this, BSD has already installed infraction cameras on its school buses, a measure supported by the federal government’s new regulations. These cameras capture video footage of vehicles passing school buses when stop lights and signs are activated. Drivers can also time-stamp the footage, providing valuable evidence for enforcement actions.

The response from bus drivers regarding the infraction cameras has been positive, according to Gustafson. “The school bus drivers appreciate the ease of recording violations if they occur,” he said. However, overall feedback from parents and other stakeholders has been limited so far.

The new measures reflect the government’s commitment to keeping students safe, Transport Minister Anita Anand announced recently.

“The biggest safety risk for children riding a school bus isn’t inside the vehicle, it’s actually around the bus. With this new regulation, the Government of Canada is taking meaningful action to improve school bus technologies and to keep our children safe,” Anand said in a recent press release.

With more than 2.2 million Canadian children relying on school buses daily, Anand explained the implementation of these new safety technologies aims to further reduce the already low number of school bus-related fatalities, which account for less than 0.1 per cent of all motor vehicle-related fatalities in Canada.

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