B.C. school bus driver leads charge to make seatbelts mandatory
Posted March 28, 2019 6:40 am.
Last Updated March 28, 2019 10:17 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
FRASER VALLEY (NEWS 1130) – A school bus driver in the Fraser Valley is worried about the safety of his young passengers because his bus, like many others, doesn’t have seatbelts.
“I’m the only guy with a seatbelt and this is wrong,” says Gary Lillico, whose online petition calling on the federal transport minister to make seatbelts mandatory on all school buses across the country has now gathered over 80,000 signatures.
Lillico drives as many as 76 kids when he gets behind the wheel of his bus, reaching speeds up to 100 km/h on his route between Agassiz and Chilliwack. What scares him most is when they get up and walk around while travelling at highway speed.
“They come to the front of the bus and want to ask me a question or tell me something. They’re five years old so they don’t understand the concept of having an accident or getting hurt,” he tells CityNews.
“They ask me every day if they are getting their seatbelts yet and I say we are working on it.”
Lillico is getting plenty of support in his bid to increase safety on school buses.
“I mean why wouldn’t you want to protect children of all things?” says one woman CityNews spoke with on the street.
“If they are mandatory in cars, why wouldn’t you have them be mandatory in school buses and have the same result?” asks another man.
Lillico says retrofitting a single bus with seatbelts can cost as much as $15,000 and he believes that might be one reason governments have baulked at the idea.
Transport Canada admits that seatbelts on school buses can offer added protection, but also says that if seatbelts aren’t used or installed properly, they could have a negative impact on safety.
-With files from Isabelle Raghem
