Remember Adam Ranger campaign seeks to improve safety around school buses

With school starting soon and school buses beginning to run again, the family of a little boy killed when a truck failed to stop for his school bus more than a decade ago is urging drivers to exercise extra caution.

Adam Ranger was five-years-old in February 2000 when he arrived at his home east of the town of Mattawa, Ont., on the school bus at the end of the week. His brother Alex, then 12, was with him

The bus driver alerted Alex that a truck was coming down the road.

Adam made a run for home and made it across the roadway and into his driveway before being struck and killed by the one ton truck which was towing a piece of machinery. Little Adam was killed instantly in the collision, the site Lets Remember Adam.org recounts.

The 63-year-old driver from Sudbury was charged with manslaughter.

Ten years ago, Adam'sfamily, in partnership with the Mattawa Group of Four Police Services Board, the Ontario Provincial Police, and the Ministry of Transportation createdthe Lets Remember Adam Stop for the School Bus initiative.

Drivers must stop a safe distance away from a stopped school bus with flashing lights. This message, along with Adams face, is posted on many billboards across northeastern Ontario.

Adam's eldest brother Pierre Ranger said he won't let the memory of that day fade away and is determined to keep advocating for school bus safety improvements.

"The message keeps going, Ranger said. It hasn't been forgotten. I don't want to ever let it be forgotten."

People see my little brother's face out there on those billboards knowing that he was once here and taken for a senseless reason just because somebody didn't want to stop, take two seconds out of their day and stop and just wait while he crossed the road.

OPP Sergeant Carole Dionne saidthe campaign has had an impact on drivers' attitudes.

"Definitely there is some improvement, but we just want that message to continue," she said.

Improvements, such as training students how to enter and exit a bus, is something the Sudbury Student Services Consortium is working on.

Ranger saidhe'd like the school bus services go further.

He said thatinstalling cameras would make careless drivers think twice about trying to pass a stopped school bus like his brother's.