Thunder Bay’s police service is reminding residents to stop for school buses when their lights are flashing and the stop sign is out.
“We’re just hoping to kind of remind people about it again and see if we can actually make an impact between the mixture of this media messaging and then some enforcement initiatives and see if we can find a way to sort the problem out,” said Constable Tom Armstrong. “It is not going away.”
City police did not provide numbers on incidences in 2025 and instead focused on awareness.
Certain areas in the city have been particularly bad for drivers not stopping for the buses.
“There’s a number of the busier roads that we see a lot of problems in spots like Golf Links Rd, James St. Oliver Rd, some of those busy roads,” added Armstrong. “We’re seeing more and more, pop up in just in residential areas and somewhat rural roads, two-lane roads where it kind of defies logic why people aren’t stopping for these buses and it poses a real safety concern.
City police also highlighted Dawson Road as a problematic location.
“That’s one where these kids have to cross Dawson Rd so they’re crossing live traffic in a 70 kilometres per hour zone and it’s one of the worst spots for people passing buses,” said Armstrong. “And again, it’s a mindblowing one and the potential ramifications of you know, someone not stopping for the bus are huge, so it’s a real concerning one.
People who don’t stop for a school bus with its sign out and on will lose three demerit points, and be fined roughly $500.
“The interesting thing with this one is if we get reports we have video and we can identify the vehicle we don’t need to identify the driver, so if we can identify that vehicle, we can charge the registered owner with an offense as well,” explained Armstrong. “So even if you’re not the driver, they’re still liable and it gives us some more of an opportunity to enforce it even after the fact.”
Bus drivers are also able to report vehicles if they can identify it and the license plate.
“We’ve had a few fairly significant collisions here in the last few months with school buses, with kids on board that you know thankfully, the children weren’t injured in these incidences, but there was huge potential for it and you know, a moment of intention or distracted Whatever it is can have grave consequences, so we just (want) people to realize the seriousness of their actions and take this driving seriously and look out for these little kids.”
