The 70-year old school bus driver who was charged with careless driving last week won’t be behind the wheel any longer.
Henri Lemire, superintendent of the Greater North Central Francophone schools, said the school bus contractor who employed the driver indicated the man is not planning to drive again.
The driver was fined $402, and Lemire said the man doesn’t want to return to the road.
“He will not be driving again,” he said. “He doesn’t want to drive anymore.”
Lemire said new contracts the board signs with bus companies require the contractor to collect a driver’s abstract and do a criminal record check before they’re hired.
He said the board takes as many steps as possible to make children safe.
“You always try and put as many measures in place as possible, but nothing is foolproof.”
The students were on their way home from Ă©cole Citadelle in Legal on Dec. 13 when the half-sized bus in which they were travelling was broadsided by a pickup.
An RCMP collision analyst was immediately called to the scene. Officers now believe the bus went through a yield sign while headed westbound on Township Road 582. It collided with the truck, which was travelling southbound on Range Road 252.
The bus ended up in the ditch about 50 metres from the intersection. Two students on the bus were hurt in the crash and both were taken to the University of Alberta Hospital — one by STARS Air Ambulance and the other by ground ambulance.
Both students were in stable condition and their injuries were being described as non-life threatening. There was a total of six students on the bus.
Four uninjured students were all taken home by their parents, after EMS workers asked them to come to the scene.
The pickup was badly damaged with the front end completely crushed in by the force of the crash.
