School bus procedure for 207 

School buses transporting students who live on Route 207 will now be picking up and dropping off students on the same side of the road as the exit door, the latest move to combat dangerous driving on the road.

“I mean, imagine being a little guy having to cross that road. I see the little children look to see if the cars have stopped, but they’re so tiny having to check that traffic stops for them,” said Katsitsaha:wi McComber-Diabo, who lives on the 207. “People aren’t respecting their lives.”

McComber-Diabo’s children get the bus to school every day, but she elects to pick them up instead of having them take the bus home, because she said the traffic is particularly bad in the afternoons.

“My children complain that cars go through the bus’s stop sign and pass while they’re getting on the bus. People don’t have the common sense or the morals to stop.”

McComber-Diabo is optimistic that the new school bus procedures will help children stay safe on the road. Phil Jacobs, who also lives on the 207, said that it’s about time changes were made.

“It’s gotten bad in the last 10 years. It’s just getting worse and worse every year,” said Phil Jacobs.

Jacobs has lived on the 207 since he was a child and was involved in a crash near his home just last month, when a van rammed into his vehicle as he exited his driveway. He was lucky to escape unscathed, but with recent reports of vehicles overtaking school buses - an offence punishable by an up to $300 fine and nine demerit points - he said he’s growing more and more concerned for the safety of youth on the road.

“Sometimes it’s not just one car, but three or four cars will pass the bus, people just don’t care,” he said. “There’s even been some instances where a car has passed through a parking lot on the right instead of on the left to get around the bus, and that’s the side the kid is on. It’s crazy.”

New procedures were announced by the Mohawk Council of Kahnawake (MCK) this week, with school bus drivers now immediately ensuring no student had to cross the 207 to get on or off the bus. The buses will now pass pickup spots and find safe spots to circle back to ensure door-side service.

“It happens pretty much on a daily basis. When I was a driver, this happened to me, and I had to close the door in a student’s face, because I could see that the vehicle wasn’t going to stop,” said Spencer McComber, MCK’s daily transportation manager. “There’s been many, many close calls.”

McComber said that the new procedure is going to be necessary as long as traffic continues the way it is on the 207.

“As long as we have children that live on that road who need to get on the bus, it’ll be this way permanently,” he said.

Community member Queenie McComber said that the 207 is notorious for dangerous driving.

“The situation is crazy. The cars don’t even stop for the bus letting off children, people can’t get out their driveways,” she said. “If it were up to me, I would shut the road down for residents only.”

Traffic calming measures are expected to be implemented by next spring, MCK chief Ryan Montour told The Eastern Door last month.

Those interventions will include yellow flashing lights on four intersections, as well as stop lights and the creation of the eight-person Peacekeepers highway patrol team.

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