School bus drivers made the news last month with their complaints about drivers ignoring school bus warning lights.
A little online searching led me to a public posting site that left me gobsmacked. Here is one of the online postings: 91裸聊视频淗uh. News to me that you were required to stop when oncoming too; thought it was only when overtaking given the painted wording on the bus is 91裸聊视频楧o not pass when signals flashing.91裸聊视频� Anyone able to link me to the applicable sections of the MVA?91裸聊视频�
The 91裸聊视频渟-word91裸聊视频� screamed out at me when I read that. My 11-year-old daughter, ever cautious about using inappropriate words, would have cautioned me: 91裸聊视频淵ou shouldn91裸聊视频檛 say 91裸聊视频榯upid91裸聊视频� with an 91裸聊视频榮91裸聊视频� Daddy91裸聊视频�.
She would be correct, as she so often is. There91裸聊视频檚 nothing stupid about ignorance.
I hasten to clarify my use of the word ignorance. I do not intend the negative connotation with which it is sometimes used. I use the word with the literal meaning 91裸聊视频渓ack of knowledge or information91裸聊视频�.
I have a 91裸聊视频渢ip of the iceberg91裸聊视频� mentality that leads me to feel certain that the person who contributed that online posting is the tip of an iceberg of ignorance. This column is my little bit of heat contribution to melting the iceberg.
Section 149 of the Motor Vehicle Act dictates: 91裸聊视频淭he driver of a vehicle91裸聊视频n meeting or overtaking a school bus91裸聊视频n or near which a sign or signal is displayed indicating the school bus is receiving or discharging school children, must stop the vehicle before reaching the bus and not proceed until the bus resumes motion or the driver of the bus signals to other drivers that it is safe to proceed.91裸聊视频� I91裸聊视频檓 happy to provide the link to anyone who e-mails that request.
Get caught breaking that driving law and you91裸聊视频檙e subject to a $167 ticket and three demerit points on your license. But you91裸聊视频檇 have to be 91裸聊视频渢upid with an s91裸聊视频� for that to be a motivation for your driving behaviour.
A collaborative study between the BC Coroners Service and BC Injury Research and Prevention Unit published Nov. 9, 2010, identified risky pedestrian behaviour (observed in 57.6% of fatalities) and lack of active supervision (observed in 33% of the deaths of children under 10) as key factors in child pedestrian fatalities in British Columbia.
These two key factors are present when children are boarding and offloading a school bus: Children will dart across the street to catch their bus and will dart out from the nose or rear of a bus when departing; they are never accompanied by their parents.
Special care must be taken any time children are around. Absent-minded children will dart out in front of traffic and parents will be distracted. As motorists, we must anticipate these factors and drive accordingly.
Wouldn91裸聊视频檛 you know, there is another section of the Motor Vehicle Act that requires extra caution when there are children around. Section 181 provides the common sense requirement that 91裸聊视频�91裸聊视频 driver of a vehicle must observe proper precaution on observing a child or apparently confused or incapacitated person on the highway.91裸聊视频�
Yes, children are lumped in with confused and incapacitated people, and for good reason. By the way, don91裸聊视频檛 be distracted by the word 91裸聊视频渉ighway.91裸聊视频� That word is extremely broadly defined to include pretty much anywhere a vehicle might pass.
Let91裸聊视频檚 each of us take extra precautions any time we suspect children might be around. We need to watch like hawks in residential areas (where the study found 51.5% of child pedestrian fatalities occur), at public transit stops, around schools and playgrounds, in parking lots, and anywhere else children might be lurking.
This column is intended to provide general information about injury claims. It is not a substitute for retaining a lawyer to provide legal advice specifically pertaining to your case. Paul Hergott is a personal injury lawyer at Hergott Law in West Kelowna.
paul@hlaw.ca
