On March 3rd a family was ripped apart and heartbroken by the tragic loss of their gorgeous 7-yr old boy, in sight of his house and heading to catch the school bus.

Connor Thomson-Dulwich lives on a road where the speed limit is 100km/hr and there are no signs warning that school buses stop. School buses have signs on them lowering the speed limit because of children, but what about before the bus arrives and after the bus leaves?

A car doesn’t need to be speeding on rural roads to tragically cut short the life of a child; especially when the bus stop is on a road with a limit of 80-100km/hr.

The area around schools has a speed limit of 25km/hr for the safety of the children and that is at any time that children are present. We believe that there should be signs on roads with bus stops lowering the limit while children are waiting for the bus. It can’t bring Connor back but if it can save the life of another child then at least it will save another family from the pain Connor’s family and friends are facing.

We believe that rural areas with school buses stopping should have the limits lowered to 25km/hr from 7-9am and 3-5pm school days so that the same protections offered by school zones apply from when they leave home.

Road sense and safety consciousness only goes so far; you can stop look, listen and think but if the speed limit is 80-100 km/hr it isn’t going to take long for a car to appear out of nowhere.