Transport Canada strengthens safety by adding new cameras to school buses

OTTAWA, ON, Feb. 3, 2025 /CNW/ - The safety of Canada's road users is a top priority for the Government of Canada, and that starts with the safe transportation of our children.

While school buses have an excellent safety record in Canada and remain the safest means of transporting children to and from school, there are always opportunities to provide even greater protection for our children.

Today, the Minister of Transport and Internal Trade, the Honourable Anita Anand, announced that the Government of Canada is mandating perimeter visibility systems as a new feature to improve school bus safety. These systems help drivers detect children around the bus while it is stopped or travelling slowly.

These systems use a series of cameras mounted onto the outside of the bus, allowing bus drivers to see if anyone is around the bus before driving off. This technology offers enhanced visibility beyond what mirrors alone can provide. With this new regulation, Canada becomes the first country in the world to require new school buses to be fitted with this technology.

In addition to new perimeter visibility systems, the Government of Canada also introduced requirements for the installation of infraction cameras for manufacturers who wish to voluntarily install them on buses. An infraction camera could capture a photo of any vehicle illegally passing a bus.   

These measures follow a 2020 Report of the Task Force on School Bus Safety, which recommended new measures to protect children outside the school bus, where they face the greatest risk. 

Quote

"The biggest safety risk for children riding a school bus isn't inside the vehicle, it's actually around the bus. With this new regulation, the Government of Canada is taking meaningful action to improve school bus technologies and to keep our children safe."

The Honourable Anita Anand
Minister of Transport and Internal Trade

Quick facts

• The new requirement for perimeter visibility systems came into effect on December 18, 2024, and all new school buses will be equipped with perimeter visibility systems as of November 1, 2027.
• An estimated 2.2 million Canadian children travel to and from school every day in over 50,000 school buses.
• Fatalities on school buses account for less than 0.1 per cent of all motor vehicle-related fatalities in Canada.
• In January 2019, the federal, provincial, territorial Council of Ministers Responsible for Transportation and Highway Safety established the Task Force on School Bus Safety to carefully examine the issue of school bus safety, both inside and outside the bus.
• The Task Force brings together federal, provincial, and territorial government representatives, manufacturers, school bus operators, safety associations, labour unions, and school board representatives.

Associated links

• Canada Gazette, Part. II: Regulations Amending the Motor Vehicle Safety Regulations (School Buses)
• School Bus Safety
• Report: Strengthening School Bus Safety in Canada
• Council of Ministers Responsible for Transportation and Highway Safety

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SOURCE Transport Canada - Ottawa

Contacts: Laura Scaffidi, Director of Communications, Office of the Honourable Anita Anand, Minister of Transport and Internal Trade, Ottawa, [email protected]; Media relations, Transport Canada, Ottawa, [email protected], 613-993-0055