The North Bay OPP recently concluded its Start Safe initiative and is reporting several incidents resulting in Provincial Offence Notices (PON) being issued.
Overall, from September 5-15, officers issued 25 PONs for speeding while school buses were on the road, two notices for failure to stop for school bus lights, and one summons for stunt driving.
An officer patrolling in front of St. Gregory’s Elementary School in Powassan at 8:27 am on September 14, observed a vehicle travelling at a high rate of speed. The driver was stopped and charged with stunt driving, and the officer says that the vehicle was speeding 60 kilometres per hour over the posted limit. The man’s driver’s licence was suspended for seven days and the vehicle impounded for seven days. A summons has been issued and the driver will appear in traffic court in North Bay in October.
Police say that on September 7, a tractor-trailer hauling lumber failed to stop for the school bus lights on Highway 17 east of North Bay. Police, acting on a complaint, located the truck and charged the driver with failure to stop for a school bus.
Another failure to stop was issued after a patrol car travelling eastbound behind a school bus on Highway 17 east of the city observed a westbound vehicle proceed through the flashing lights of the bus.
The OPP reminds motorists that the stop arm of the bus does not have to be extended for a required stop. If the lights are flashing and the bus has stopped, drivers must stop.
The HTA section 175(11) states that: every driver or street car operator, when meeting on a highway, other than a highway with a median strip, a stopped school bus that has its overhead red signal-lights flashing, shall stop before reaching the bus and shall not proceed until the bus moves or the overhead red signal-lights have stopped flashing.
OPP cautions that they will continue to monitor and enforce the traffic laws throughout the school year.
