Evidence of meeting #135 for Transport, Infrastructure and Communities in the 42nd Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was collision.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Paediatric Emergency Physician, Canadian Paediatric Society
It's a really tough question. Again, unfortunately, this would be more my opinion as opposed to what's rooted in evidence, so I'm actually going to hold off on that, because I think we should be guided by research and not one individual opinion.
Liberal
Gagan Sikand Liberal Mississauga—Streetsville, ON
Picking up where Angelo left off, from what you've said, I think the safety arm would probably be the one single thing we could do to prevent the greatest number of deaths, right?
Paediatric Emergency Physician, Canadian Paediatric Society
When you say “the safety arm”, do you mean the one in front of the school bus that prevents children from...?
Paediatric Emergency Physician, Canadian Paediatric Society
Again, because that's never been individually evaluated, I wouldn't say that specifically. I would say that it's some sort of system that prevents children from being hit in front, whether or not that's a camera, a loud alarm or flashing lights. A lot of these have been piloted in districts in the U.S. and elsewhere. Unfortunately, robust evaluation is quite challenging to do, so I would say that avoiding children from getting hit around the bus by whatever means you're doing that would be a good way to focus efforts, for sure.
Liberal
Gagan Sikand Liberal Mississauga—Streetsville, ON
I'm trying to compare it to the seat belts, but it would be external to the bus, not inside the compartment. In a collision when all the passengers are involved, the one thing we could do would be the safety belts. Is that correct?
Paediatric Emergency Physician, Canadian Paediatric Society
I don't want to call it low-hanging fruit because it's obviously very complicated logistically and practically, and I won't even begin to think about all those down the line. That's not my area of expertise or knowledge. At this point, however, certainly we do know that well-fitting, three-point restraints will minimize injury and prevent fatalities. That's clear.
Liberal
Gagan Sikand Liberal Mississauga—Streetsville, ON
If we take the example of Humboldt, the speed was from an external vehicle so you don't necessarily have speed as a factor.
What's the contribution of speed when it comes to the numbers of deaths that you were talking about?
Paediatric Emergency Physician, Canadian Paediatric Society
Because bus crashes in Canada are so rare...an upcoming study is looking at the last decade and specifics around the actual crash. I wish the results were published; they're coming in the next couple of months. In the absence of that, we do know that it's very rare, one or fewer fatalities per year over the last 20 years, which is, I think, very positive. When it does happen, the bus has been travelling at a higher speed more often than not.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Judy Sgro
Thank you very much.
Mr. Jeneroux, I believe you had a point you wanted to make.
Conservative
Matt Jeneroux Conservative Edmonton Riverbend, AB
Thank you, Madam Chair, for allowing me to do that.
Dr. Rosenfield, you raised that very few crashes happen when it comes to kids on buses. I'm wondering if you have any statistics that you can provide our committee, because I think the only thing we have in talking with our analyst is that there have only been eight or nine accidents or deaths since 1999.
Paediatric Emergency Physician, Canadian Paediatric Society
Yes, when this meeting was originally scheduled, my co-witness was the new chief at St. Mike's, who is the lead author on that study using the Canadian hospital injury reporting and prevention program. She has that data. Unfortunately, she's been out of the country, and I haven't been able to get it from her. Otherwise, I was going to present it to you today. When I reach her, and once the paper is published, we'll be happy to send the results and the specifics.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Judy Sgro
Thank you all very much.
Thank you, Dr. Rosenfield. We very much appreciate the work you do every day in looking after the country's children.
Paediatric Emergency Physician, Canadian Paediatric Society
Thanks so much. It was a pleasure.
Liberal
