VICTORIA– Keeping young people safe is at the heart of the push to change how the party bus industry operates, says George Heyman, MLA for Vancouver Fairview.
“The largely unregulated party bus industry in B.C. has been responsible for a number of deaths and dangerous incidents involving young people, and it’s time for this Liberal government to do something about it,” said Heyman.
Heyman introduced the Act to Safeguard Young People’s Future, aiming to regulate the party bus industry and ensure that minors are protected from illegal or dangerous activity which may take place on a party bus, in the legislature on Monday.
“A number of young people have lost their lives or been seriously injured as a result of lax regulations for this industry,” said Heyman.
He noted that there have been cases of party bus drinking, fights, assaults with weapons, medical distress calls, passengers falling out of unsecured doors, passengers being ejected and left on the side of the road, and passengers being assaulted and left unconscious at unsafe locations.
“Parents, advocates, the Union of B.C. Municipalities and even the party bus industry have called for better regulation and yet no action has been taken,” said Heyman.
“The B.C. Liberals said they want to protect kids and ensure safety in our transportation industry, they’ve even promised this to concerned parents, but they failed to act,” said Heyman.
Julie Upton-Raymond and Danielle Raymond, the mother and sister of Shannon Raymond, a 16-year-old who lost her life in a party bus incident in 2008, have been working tirelessly to push for changes to this dangerous practice. They were at the legislature to support Heyman’s bill.
“It is too late for Shannon and the others who we’ve lost,” said Upton-Raymond. “Something has to change before another tragedy occurs, and rest assured it will as long as this industry is allowed to operate the way it has been.”
“I hope that the B.C. Liberals will stand with me and finally take concrete action to stop the dangerous behavior on party buses,” said Heyman.