Monday, December 3 ~ LANGFORD [updated Dec 8, 2018]
by Mary P Brooke ~ West Shore Voice News
Transport Canada will — starting September 2020 — require all new medium and large highway buses to be equipped with seatbelts.
Meanwhile, at the Sooke School District 62 (SD62) board meeting on November 27, there was discussion about requiring seatbelts on school buses.
“Are we willing to pay for it,” was the question posed to fellow trustees by board vice-chair Bob Phillips.
It would cost $25,000 per bus for a seatbelt upgrade, explained Secretary-Treasurer Harold Cull, suggesting that perhaps as new buses are acquired for the SD62 fleet that those new buses come with seatbelts.
Trustee Wendy Hobbs pushed for a staff report on bus safety risk management. The board managed to settle on a motion about gathering more information about putting seatbelts into existing and new buses.
[Update]: A staff report with some updated seatbelt installation costs will be presented at SD62’s December 11 public board meeting.
As first published on page 1 in the November 30, 2018 print-PDF issue of West Shore Voice News.