A motion from North Perth councilor Allan Rothwell has expanded in support across the province.
North Perth council supported a motion from Rothwell on March 6th to send a letter to the province urging them to install stop arm cameras on all school buses by the start of the next school year.
Rothwell says he got the idea to put the motion forward after having conversations with John Chapman who operates Newry Coach Lines regarding his own presentation to Perth County council for a similar request.
The issue however from the County level came down to costs to implement the cameras, which gave Rothwell thought to turn to the province for support.
This letter has seen the support grow to North Huron, Bluewater and as far as Belleville.
Rothwell says he loves to see the support grow and knows the safety of kids heading to school is something everyone in the province wants to see.
“No matter where we are in the province there are children who get on a school bus every day. Parents, councilors and so on know the importance of doing whatever we can to put something in place that’s going to safeguard our kids. This is going to be a great thing.” said Rothwell.
This topic hits home for not just Allan but also his wife Nancy Rothwell, who is Chair of the Board for North Perth within AMDSB.
Rothwell says many years ago his child was hit by someone going around on the shoulder to pass a school bus who luckily made a recovery.
Rothwell does add this experience does not influence his thoughts on the importance of this proposal, saying safety is key no matter what.
Rothwell hopes the next steps will be to have this letter in the hands of the Premier, the Minister of Education and Minister of Transportation and have stop arm cameras installed on school buses as fast as possible.
