Bus driver wants action after young passenger nearly struck by vehicle

The bus driver who watched his youngpassenger nearly get struck by a Jeep this weeksays the P.E.I. government needs to take measures immediately to deter drivers from whizzing past stopped school buses.

"How quickly do they need to act on it? Yesterday," said Ralph Coughlin. "How valuable do you think a child's life is? That's how serious the matter is.... There's got tobe something, a deterrent, to keep these people from going through our lights."

Coughlin was stopped on the Trans-Canada Highway in Albany, P.E.I., Tuesday morning,picking up six-year-old KoralLindstedt, who has to cross the highway to get on hisbus.

It's just scary, mind boggling, how somebody could do that. Ralph Coughlin, Bus Driver

He says his red lights were flashingand hisstop sign was out, witha line of vehicles stopped behind him.

But as Lindstedtstarted crossing the highway, Coughlin noticed the white Jeep Cherokee heading toward her wasn't slowing down.

"I slid my side window open and waved to the Jeep to stop, but she kept coming through," he said. He said the driver realized Koral was there "at the last second."

"[She] swerved to the right into a driveway and back out onto the highway, and carried on up the highway.

"It's just scary, mind boggling, how somebody could do that."

Cameras 'would make a 100 per centdifference'

Coughlin says he's described what happened to RCMP, who are searching for the Jeep's driver. But hesays everything happened so fast, that he wasn't able to see the vehicle's licence plate number.

He questionswhy his school bus, and most others, aren't equipped with video cameras.

"It'd make a 100 per centdifference," said Coughlin. "We'd have somebody arrested by now that actually committed the crime.... And I think it would definitely help [deter drivers] if they realized there was a foolproof method to catch them.It would definitely work."

We have put a lot of time, effort, and energy into modifying the cameras. Dave Gillis, Public Schools Branch

But P.E.I.'sPublic Schools Branchsays at this point, the province hasn't come up with that "foolproof method" to catch drivers, and deter others.

Back in 2011, the government installed video cameras on 10 school buses.

But four years later, it was revealed through a string of government emails obtained by CBC, that the cameras produced grainy images, and were ineffective at capturinglicence plate numbers, drivers'identities, and other evidence like whether the red lights and stop sign on the bus were properly engaged when the vehicle passed.

Cameras still don't work: Public Schools Branch

Dave Gillis, the PSB'sleader of corporate services, says since then, officials have been trying unsuccessfully to come up with a betterapproach.

"We have put a lot of time, effort, and energy into modifying the cameras, and upgrading, to try to get to the point where we can get that prosecution at the end of it. More prosecutions means more media coverage, means the word gets out there more, and potentially deters more people, and wakes people up," said Gillis.

"But the cameras, as we have them now, aren't going to do that."

Gillis says in early November, school and transportation officials areplanningto meet to"explore new modern technologies" and to look at what other provinces are using to tackle the problem.

A government standing committee is also meeting next week to discuss various approaches being considered from requiring front licence plates on P.E.I. vehiclesto imposing harsher penaltieslike roadside licence suspensions.

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