London boy’s death while exiting school bus sparks push for safer streets

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Southwest Londoners are petitioning for safer streets after a boy was struck and killed while getting off a school bus near Lambeth as one school safety advocate says children are at increased risk on rural roads.

Dante Caranci, 7, died in hospital after he was hit by a vehicle on Longwoods Road, east of Murray Road, at 4 p.m. Monday, London police said.

Dante, a pupil at Delaware’s Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic elementary school, had just gotten off the bus across the street from his home, his grandmother, Judy Madzia, has said.

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Andrew Clark, who co-chairs the city’s active and safe routes to school steering committee, said London-area schools do a good job keeping students safe, but speeding motorists put them at risk.

“We know that everyone’s in a hurry, and we know that just from driving around our city, that people are in a hurry and speeding is a norm,” Clark said. “There’s not enough police officers on the streets to actually patrol traffic because there’s much larger concerns in our community than people going over the speed limit, but it does have an impact.”

Dante’s neighbours have sounded the alarm on a spike in traffic issues and crashes on Longwoods Road as Delaware and Mt. Brydges have grown in recent years. The problem has been worsened this year with Colonel Talbot Road closed for construction, residents say.

“The rural environment is much more dangerous, because there’s just not the pedestrian infrastructure there for kids to be safe,” Clark said.

An online petition launched in the wake of Dante’s death calls on London’s police chief and local politicians – municipal, provincial and federal – to make southwest London’s streets safer.

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Speeding has become a problem on Longwoods Road and nearby streets, says the petition that has drawn more than 500 signatures.

“Even more egregious, these motorists also regularly ignore the lights and signage of school buses, speeding up to pass through stop signs which have clearly been extended,” the petition says. “This type of reckless behaviour has also been observed at crosswalks equipped with flashing lights.”

The petition’s demands include boosting traffic enforcement, equipping school buses with camera systems and installing rumble strips and more signs along major roads.

Police have released few details of Monday’s crash, saying only the driver remained at the scene. There were no updates on the investigation Friday, a police spokesperson said.

Police Chief Thai Truong detailed the dangerous state of London roads and dramatic decrease in traffic enforcement initiatives in a budget presentation to the city’s police board earlier this year.

Traffic death were up 90 per cent in 2023 from the year before and officers dished out 80 per cent fewer tickets in 2022 than they did in 2015, according to police statistics.

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But Truong vowed improvements, promising more road safety campaigns and beefed-up enforcement, as part of his plan to modernize the force and change how service is delivered to the community.

In a September update, Truong said officers handed out 9,083 traffic tickets and warnings in the first seven months of 2024, nearly matching the 9,546 issued in the same period last year.

Despite this week’s fatal crash, Clark said school buses remain a safe method of transportation.

“It’s a safe way to travel to school, just like just like walking and cycling,” he said. “In fact, most of the issues we have around the school communities are from the parents driving their kids to school.”

Some motorists pass school buses while its red lights are flashing – an offence in Ontario that carries a maximum $2,000 fine and six demerit points for a first offence – but the problem isn’t “an epidemic,” Clark said.

“But these things do happen, and unfortunately . . . if it happens, there’s a good chance that something bad is going to happen because of the risk, the unexpectedness of it,” he said.

Dante’s family and friends flocked to the O’Neil Funeral Home for a visitation Friday. A funeral is planned for 10 a.m. Saturday at St. Mary’s Church at 345 Lyle St. The family asks attendees to wear a hockey jersey in Dante’s honour. An online fundraiser for the Caranci family has raised more than $193,000.

jjuha@postmedia.com

dcarruthers@postmedia.com

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