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School bus driver nabbed by RIDE after dropping off children: York cops

And he was on his way back to a school when he was stopped, police say.

Cops want auto body shops to contact them if they've worked on a dark-coloured Toyota truck or SUV after a hit and run in East Gwillimbury.
A York Regional Police vehicle. Photo by Stan Behal /Toronto Sun

A school bus driver has been charged in Aurora after failing a roadside screening test in between transferring students.

On Wednesday at 8.45 a.m., York Regional Police say a 61-year-old bus driver was stopped in a RIDE check at Leslie St. and Wellington St. E.

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The driver was given a roadside screening test, which cops say he failed, and he was arrested. He was then taken to #1 District Headquarters for a breath test. 

The driver has been charged with over 80 (driving with excess blood alcohol) and his licence has been suspended. The Newmarket man’s name was not released. The full-size school bus has been impounded for seven days. 

No one else was on the bus at the time, but the driver had already dropped off children at a school, York Const. Mavina Armstrong said on Thursday.

And he was on his way back to a school when he was stopped.

“It was definitely a good stop for the officer,” Armstrong said.

Under the Highway Traffic Act, zero tolerance measures have been in effect for drivers of commercial vehicles since 2018.

“Driving while impaired is not a factor here,” said Armstrong. “It’s a matter of zero tolerance.”

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Armstrong said the police are increasingly seeing these incidents early in the day.

“We’re doing more RIDE and spot checks in the morning.”

Among other issues, drivers sometimes head out in the morning without having given themselves enough time to recover from drinking the night before.

Where police used to focus on late-night checks, they now run road-side programs between 5 a.m. and 9 a.m. as well.

lbraun@postmedia.com