TISDALE — A Tisdale bus stop beside 111th Avenue and 98th Street in Tisdale has been relocated following parents of children standing out in the road to prevent drivers from passing.
The new stop, effective May 4, will have students boarding the bus at the alley between 98th Street and 100A Street on the north side of 111th Avenue.
Jocelyn Hilkewich is a mother to a seven-year-old, and one of a few Tisdale parents who were volunteering their own time to stand on the road by the old stop and physically stop drivers when the bus stop sign hand is raised.
Hilkewich’s daughter has been using the bus stop beside the 111th Avenue and 98th Street intersection since 2018.
A year later, Hilkewich began stepping out into the street after it became apparent to her drivers weren’t going to stop.
“Lots of drivers speed on that street in general, and there are lots of children that play across the street there – but my biggest concern is when the bus is unloading and loading,” Hilkewich said.
“I stand in the road every day. The latest incident I was a minute late getting to the stop so I wasn’t standing in the intersection, but I heard a vehicle coming way too fast so I didn’t step off onto the street. The bus driver was honking to keep the children back.”
She isn’t the only parent working the cause by standing in the road to ensure the children can make it across safely.
On April 29, Tisdale RCMP and NESD transportation department visited the bus stop beside the 111th Avenue and 98th Street intersection to look at the issues and see what solutions can be arranged.
This led to the location being changed.
Peter Fofonoff, the stop’s bus driver, said it’s gotten to the point where some drivers would drive around the crossing children.
“I load and unload at the same spot. I’m always facing east and cars coming from east to west, they just kind of pull over to the side and turn into the crescent on 98th Street. Some of them must feel that while there are no kids on their side they don’t need to stop,” Fofonoff said.
“I’m responsible for the safety of those children and it’s tough to work with some of that when you have drivers that don’t obey the laws.”
When a driver looks like they aren’t going to stop, Fofonoff said he will press down on the horn to try to stop them and warn the students.
“I blow the horn and they just stop. They don’t move until I tell them again it’s safe.”
At one point Hilkewich couldn’t escort her daughter to the spot, so she paid a local boy $25 a week to escort her daughter for her – minus the standing out on the street.
In a couple incidents, Hilkewich said she had to physically grab a child by the hood to pull them out from in front of a moving vehicle.
“I’ve had vehicles touch me to turn the corner, and go up on the curb to go around the corner. I don’t know what needs to change there, it seems like it could be adjusted so it’s not obstructing the turn on 98th Street,” she said.
“It’s an extremely busy street, but it’s also centrally located between the trailer park, Golburn Crescent, our own street, and 110th Street, south of us.”
Some of the steps she’s taken included contacting the town, the school committee council, the bus depot, and the local RCMP.
“Unfortunately when you’re in a panic and not watching every detail about the vehicles that are passing by and just trying to keep the kids safe it makes it harder to follow up on charges.”
In a letter written to the town in 2019, Hilkewich requested speed bumps and better signage in the area.
“I was told at the time that they weren’t prepared to adjust anything and they were going to work with the RCMP, and they did come out and monitor the speed at that location for a while,” she said. “There were three occasions when I noticed them come out… It was very sporadic I would say.”
While the officers were there, Hilkewich said the drivers behave as they should, but when they’re not there they continue to disobey the bus’s stop sign.
“I’ve had people yell out their windows at me while I’m obstructing traffic, rev up their engines at me, I’ve had messages at home – I’ve faced a lot of backlash over trying to keep the children safe.”
Hilkewich said they’ll see how the new spot works out.
