A petition on Yukon school bus safety has resulted in several significant changes this year.

Jeanie Dendys, then acting as the minister of Education in Tracy-Anne McPhee’s personal leave of absence, responded to a petition on school bus safety in the legislature earlier this fall.

The petition had been tabled last April, with 129 signatures asking that dashboard cameras be installed on school buses and penalties stiffened for illegally passing a school bus.

Dendys informed the house the petition resulted in a school bus safety information campaign, a dashboard camera pilot project, enhanced enforcement activities on targeted bus routes and ongoing safety assessments.

The dashboard camera pilot project began last March, Dendys said.

Cameras were installed on four school buses and recorded vehicles passing the bus when the vehicle’s stop lights and arm were engaged.

The pilot aimed to determine whether the cameras effectively provide evidence of illegal and dangerous driving incidents.

“The cameras have functioned well so far,” Dendys said, but more testing is required to assess how they work in low light, snowy and cold weather conditions.

In order to log this data, the pilot has been extended to the end of this school year.

“We want to ensure we are investing in the right tools to enforce safety on Yukon highways and to protect our students,” Dendys said.

The territorial government is also taking part in a Transportation Canada task force on school bus safety, Dendys said. The results of the task force will strengthen school bus safety across the country.

A new Motor Vehicles Act is underway, Dendys said, which will modernize the legislation for the protection of all drivers, including students taking the school bus.

The changes to legislation will implement feedback given through an engagement survey last spring, and will address “a number of emerging and long-standing traffic safety issues.”

Dendys noted the petition’s call to raise penalties was proactively answered last March.

The penalty for failing to stop for a school bus was increased from $200 to $500, with demerit points rising from five to eight. The change was made last March.

“I will take this opportunity to remind everyone that we all share the responsibility for keeping students and bus drivers safe when they are on the road,” Dendys said.

“All Yukoners must do their part to remind friends and family to drive safely near school buses, stop when they see the red blinking lights of a school bus and follow the rules of the road.”

The tabled petition last spring stated “recent collisions involving other vehicles hitting a school bus and near-misses involving children on the road” as reason for the territory to strengthen school bus safety.

It referenced Prince Edward Island’s tougher penalties to include the suspension of an offending driver’s licence in the case of illegally passing a school bus.