There are moments in a newsroom when things come to a stop, like when word was received a teen was airlifted by STARS Air Ambulance after a school bus rolled over Monday afternoon.
It was later confirmed the bus was transporting seven students from tiny Cayley School — an education facility where one can literally see from one end of the hallway to the other. It’s a school with about 140 students, where students from Kindergarten to Grade 8 know everyone’s names.
The school and Cayley community must have been gripped with fear, especially after hearing the words STARS, which always brings about images of the very worst.
The student was reported to have serious, but thankfully, not life-threatening injuries.
The incident raised the question: “Why aren’t there seatbelts on school buses?”
Traditional school buses with the Foothills School Division do not have seatbelts, and the public school division is in the norm across the province.
Ironically, Federal Transport Minister Marc Garneau announced earlier this month a task force to investigating retro-fitting buses with seatbelts.
Although the traditional yellow buses used by Foothills School Division and Christ the Redeemer Catholic Schools have all met the required safety guidelines, maybe it is time to install seatbelts.
It’s hard to believe any of the seven students on the bus would have been harmed more if they were wearing belts.
But seatbelts come with a financial burden. Buses would have to be retrofitted, further safety inspections done and it would be an enormous expense to division’s like Foothills, which manage its own buses. It would also impact private corporations, like Southland, which operates Christ the Redeemer’s fleet.
The government has to put its money where its mouth is and not leave school divisions financially strapped.
