LAC LA BICHE - Motorists who illegally pass school busses in the Lac La Biche area will find themselves caught on camera and hit with hefty fines.
John Kokotilo, the interim general manager of Lac La Biche County’s Protective Services, said school bus drivers report these incidences – commonly referred to as flybys – to law enforcement officials and, with the assistance of onboard dash cameras, they are able to investigate and lay charges against those who commit the infractions.
“They come in, they report them,” Kokotilo told Lakeland This Week. “We’re getting video footage, and we’re charging people as required,” said Kokotilo, explaining that the safety of bus passengers and other motorists is always taken very seriously.
According to Kokotilo, community peace officers are regularly on patrol not only checking that motorists are following the rules concerning passing school buses, but also making sure that they slow down while driving through school zones.
“Enforcement Services takes school and child safety very seriously and frequently monitor school zones throughout the school year,” he said.
While law enforcement officials have handed out some citations and a number of warnings to motorists since the beginning of the school year in September, Kokotilo explained that most folks obey the rules, and these types of incidents don’t occur on a consistent basis.
“People are pretty good…sometimes you just forget, but the thing is, people are pretty good,” he said.
Throughout the Northern Lights Public Schools division (NLPS), which takes in much of the Lakeland Region, officials have also been dealing with flybys.
Three a week
According to school division spokesperson Nicole Garner, drivers across the division are reporting at least three instances per week where drivers pass school buses while stop lights are flashing. While it’s still too many, she said the number of incidents has dropped since the beginning of the school year, when an average of five per week were being reported.
Garner says most reports include footage from dash-cameras, but even when a vehicle description or licence plate cannot be recorded, drivers always make a report.
“Even if a charge can't be laid, this is helpful to monitor the area and for us to identify "hot spots,” she stated. “Sometimes snow or sunlight hinders it, but most of the time we have good footage to submit to RCMP.”
The provincial fine for failing to stop for a school bus with its warning lights flashing is $567 and six demerit points.
