CBC MARKETPLACE: HEALTH » DRIVING SAFETY
Kids in cabs: School boards say they're cheaper than buses
Broadcast: Feb 24, 2004

It's one thing if you grab a cab - another if it's kids who are being taken for a ride. When we discovered some school boards are hiring cabs instead of school buses to take children to school, Marketplace decided to take a look.

We found some very upset parents. Among them, Kelly Bonehill of Georgetown, Ontario, northwest of Toronto. Her nine-year-old , Alex,

'There was just something not right.' Kelly Bonehill

“The cab came to the house and he said 'I’m going now,'" Kelly remembers. "And he gave me a hug. And he walked out the door and he actually came back and gave me another hug, which I thought was very strange because, you know, there was just something not right."

A video shot on that day shows Alex telling his classmates about his favourite book. Class ends and Alex gets in a cab, waiting outside. He sits behind the driver. As the taxi heads towards Alex’s home, the cab suddenly crosses over the centre line of the road into the path of an oncoming tractor-trailer. The driver of the cab is critically injured. Another student in the car is suffers cuts and bruises.

But the unimaginable happens to Kelly Bonehill. Alex dies in hospital from a head injury.

When you take a cab, if you don't feel safe, you can always get out. But for kids, it's different. They may lack the confidence or life experience to make that kind of judgment. It turns out, many schools across the country are using cabs to transport kids.

School boards we talked to give a range of reasons for hiring cabs - from picking up a few kids who live off bus routes, to saving money - they say it can be cheaper than using a school bus.

The driver of Alex’s taxi, Lisa Broatch, was charged with careless driving. In

Montreal board stopped using taxis 3 years ago says board official Michael J Cohen

court, the rest of her recent driving record is revealed. Three speeding convictions in two years. The most recent charge was just two weeks before the accident: driving 125 kilometres per hour in an 80 kilometre zone.

Broatch’s lawyer - Haig De Rusha - says transporting kids puts additional pressures on cabbies.

“I would expect some of the school bus training would involve how to look after children, deal with them, so you’re asking cab drivers to take on a role for which they’re not specifically trained.”

The training requirements for cabbies and school bus drivers vary depending on where you live.

In Ontario, school bus drivers have to pass a provincial exam and a minimum nine-hour driver-training course. Cab drivers simply need a standard driver’s license. Bus drivers are re-tested and must pass written exams every 5 years. For cabbies, there’s no such re-testing.

“If they’re hiring transportation for children, whether it be bus, plane, train, or cab, the drivers should meet the same standards,” Kelly Bonehill said.

Marketplace wanted to ask the Halton District School Board - the board which

'I strongly oppose using cabs as transportation for kids.' Louis Patkai, father of boy injured in accident

hired the cab - about the concerns of Kelly Bonehill. The board declined an on-camera interview. But on the phone, spokesperson Marnie Denton said using taxis actually promotes safety.

"It’s safer than having kids standing at side of busy street waiting for a bus," she said.

The board also says it does not screen cabbies for their driving records.

In Quebec, Montreal's English school board stopped using taxis three years ago.

“Even if it’s a handful of kids taking a taxi, that’s too many, in my opinion,” said Michael J. Cohen, board spokesman. “Kids were being dropped off in the wrong place.”

Many school boards require a criminal check on cab drivers, a copy of the driver’s record and some even insist on the same driver every day. But most leave the selection of drivers up to the cab companies.

Nine months after Alex’s death, the Halton District School Board is still using the same cab company. We made attempts in person and on the phone to interview Harry Brar, the owner of Milton taxi.

He hasn’t called us back.

“I understand they’ve been using cabs a long time but there has been a horrible accident that could have been avoided. There needs to be change to make sure that this never happens again, ever,” Kelly Bonehill said.

Lisa Broatch, Alex’s cab driver, agrees. In January, she was convicted of careless driving. She was sentenced to 45 days in jail, a $250 fine, and her driver’s license was suspended for one year.

As for the other passenger in the taxi, Dustin Patkai now walks to school, or his dad picks him up.

“Dustin does not want to sit in a cab and he is hesitant to go in a car of any

Driver of the car, Lisa Broatch, sentenced to 45 days in jail and fined for careless driving

sort with an acquaintance or maybe a stranger," Dustin's father, Louis, said. "I strongly oppose using cabs as transportation for kids, no question. Unfortunately, in my opinion something like this has to happen in order to make some people realize that that is not appropriate."

A roadside memorial for Alex stands at the place where the accident occurred. In Georgetown, there's also a memorial at the playground of Alex’s school. The school board says it has no plans to stop using taxis to transport kids.In the meantime, Alex’s mother is pushing for a coroner’s inquest into her son’s death.

NEXT: Rules for getting a school bus driver's license »

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