A father from the Perth area is offering a reward to help catch the driver who blew by his kids' school bus while it was stopped with the lights flashing and the arm out. Mark Lambert placed cameras on his rural property along Highway 43 near Perth on a stretch of road where he says too many drivers are illegally passing stopped school buses. Lambert says this is the fourth time since November that his video cameras have captured drivers blowing by the school bus that stops to drop off his kids.
He's terrified for his kids and is taking measures into his own hands.
With the school bus clearly stopped and his 3 kids, ages 7, 6 and 4 just about to get off, the driver of a Pontiac Vibe doesn't even tap the brakes to slow down.
“They were on this side of the street getting off the bus,” says Lambert, “If they were on the other side crossing the street, they wouldn't be here today.”
When it comes to his kids, Mark Lambert will do anything to protect them, so after catching drivers on camera four times now blowing past the school bus outside his house, he's doing something.
“I've offered a substantial reward and will up it if I have to. Money is no object when it comes to my kids.”
Lambert has posted his video on Facebook and offered a thousand dollar reward for the license plate of the driver. The school bus company, Healey Transportation Ltd., says it gets a dozen phone calls a week from school bus drivers and parents of car drivers disobeying the law.
“We've even had people report cars blowing by the right side of the bus when it is stopped,” says Healey’s Tracy Irvine.
In fact, that very thing just happened in Windsor last week to Lauren Wells. Her 10-year-old daughter was just about to step off the school bus when a car passed the school bus on the right side of the bus.
“Honestly, I was so shocked I don't think I reacted right away,” recalls Wells, “and I looked over at the bus driver and he was just as shocked.”
For some the answer is to put cameras on school buses. School bus companies are meeting in Toronto today with the government to work on legislation to do just that. That would then be used as evidence to ticket drivers who pass school buses illegally.
But that bill is still in the works. Mark Lambert needs a solution now.
“I couldn't,” Lambert struggles to find the words, “I couldn't live with myself if something happened and I didn't do everything I could.”
The OPP has started an investigation. Police are asking this driver to come forward. The fine could be up to $2000 and six demerit points.