Last reviewed: September 2026
Every September, Ottawa’s sidewalks and crossings fill up again with children walking and cycling to school, and drivers who have grown used to quiet summer streets. Most mornings pass without incident. When one does not, and a car fails to slow in a school zone, rolls through a crossing, or passes a stopped bus, the call a parent gets is the one no parent wants. If that has happened to your family, we are sorry, and we want you to know a few things right away. More than one person may share responsibility for what happened. Your child is likely protected by rights and benefits that do not depend on who was at fault. And while some deadlines are very short, the law also gives children more time than adults to bring a claim. We are MG Law, a personal injury firm in Ottawa, and this is the guidance we give the families who come to us after a child is hurt.
The start of the school year puts thousands of children back near traffic at the busiest times of day. In 2024, more fatal collisions happened on Ontario roads in September than in any other month, according to the Ministry of Transportation’s preliminary 2024 data, and the Ottawa Police mark the return to class each year with a reminder to drivers to slow down in school zones, in their annual back-to-school safety message.
We wrote this to answer the questions parents actually ask us, in the order they tend to ask them: what to do first, who can be held responsible, what the rules and penalties are, how a child is compensated, and how long you have to act. The law here is Ontario-wide, with Ottawa examples where they help.
Key Takeaways
- When a child is injured in a school zone, crosswalk, or at the bus stop in Ontario, more than one party, such as a driver, a municipality, or a school board, may share responsibility.
- Roads around schools are often designated community safety zones, where most traffic fines are doubled, and passing a stopped school bus carries $400 to $2,000 and six demerit points.
- Ontario removed municipal speed cameras in late 2025, but the reduced school-zone speed limits and the doubled fines remain in force and are now enforced by police.
- A child’s two-year limitation period generally does not start to run until their 18th birthday, so many families have more time to sue than they expect.
- Short notice deadlines do not wait: as little as 10 days to notify a municipality about an unsafe road or sidewalk, 60 days for a snow or ice fall, and 7 days to notify an auto insurer.
- Get medical care first, then speak with a personal injury lawyer early, while the evidence is fresh and before any deadline passes.
What changed for the 2026 school year
Two recent changes matter for any family dealing with a school-zone injury this year, and this guide reflects both. Ontario removed municipal speed cameras in late 2025, so the cameras that once ticketed speeders near schools are gone, though the reduced school-zone limits and the doubled community-safety-zone fines remain in force and are now enforced by police. And Ontario’s auto insurance rules changed on July 1, 2026, so only medical, rehabilitation, and attendant care benefits are now mandatory in a policy, while the rest became optional. Both changes are explained, with sources, in the sections below.
What should you do first if your child is hurt going to or from school?
Get medical attention, then protect the evidence and the deadlines. Those are the two jobs of the first few days, and they can be done without turning your home into a legal command centre.
Medical care comes first, and it does not stop at the emergency room. A child’s injuries can evolve, and head injuries in particular can look mild at first: as CHEO notes, concussion symptoms may not appear right away, surfacing later as headaches, trouble concentrating, mood changes, or problems at school. Keep every follow-up appointment and tell the doctors everything you notice, even weeks on.
While the details are fresh, write down what happened. Note the time and place, the direction your child was walking or riding, the weather and light, and whether a crossing guard was on duty. If a vehicle was involved, record the plate, the make, and the driver’s information, and get the names and numbers of anyone who saw it. If a school bus was involved, note the bus number and the operator. Photograph the scene, the vehicle, and the conditions if you safely can, and keep a simple diary of your child’s symptoms and any expenses. For a collision, call the police so there is an official record. For an injury at school, report it to the school and the board and ask how they document it. None of this commits you to anything. It simply preserves the proof a claim would later depend on, if you decide to make one. When you are ready, talk to a lawyer early, because some of the deadlines below are measured in days.
Who can be held responsible when a child is hurt near a school?
Often more than one party. Depending on how the injury happened, responsibility can rest with the driver, with the municipality, with the school board, or with a school bus operator, and sometimes with several of them at once. “It was just an accident” is often not the whole story, and identifying everyone who may share responsibility is one of the first things we do on a child’s file.
The table below shows when each of them may be involved, and the rest of this guide takes them in turn.
| Possible responsible party | When they may share responsibility | The rule or duty behind it |
| Driver | Speeding in a school zone, failing to yield at a crossing, or passing a stopped school bus | Highway Traffic Act rules on speed, yielding, crossings, and school buses |
| Municipality | Providing crossing guards, and keeping roads and sidewalks in a reasonable state of repair | The municipal duty of repair and the crossing guard program, with a short notice deadline |
| School board | Supervising students and keeping school grounds reasonably safe | Education Act supervision duties and the Occupiers’ Liability Act |
| School bus operator | An injury connected to how a student was transported | Responsibility for safe home-to-school transportation |
What are the school-zone rules and driver penalties in Ontario?
In a school speed zone, a reduced limit applies during the posted hours, and where the road is also a community safety zone, traffic fines are higher. Together, that makes speeding near a school expensive.
A community safety zone is a stretch of road a municipality designates as an area where public safety is a special concern, under the Government of Ontario’s Highway Traffic Act. Many roads around Ottawa schools are designated community safety zones under the City of Ottawa Community Safety Zone By-law No. 2019-397, and where a road is designated, that status applies around the clock, every day of the year. Inside a community safety zone, as the Government of Ontario confirms, fines double near schools and public areas. The posted limit near many Ottawa schools drops to about 40 km/h from 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., Monday to Friday, September to June, as the City of Ottawa sets out.
Speeding fines rise steeply with the speed and double inside a community safety zone. The fine set by law reaches $9.75 per kilometre over the limit once a driver is 50 km/h or more over, and at those higher speeds the amount is decided by the court rather than paid on the ticket, as the Government of Ontario describes. Speeding also brings demerit points, three at 16 to 29 km/h over, four at 30 to 49 over, and six at 50 or more over, as the Government of Ontario’s demerit point table shows. The table below gathers the offences that matter most around schools.
What changed when Ontario removed speed cameras in 2025
Ontario banned municipal speed cameras in late 2025, and Ottawa switched off all of its cameras on November 13, 2025, but the reduced school-zone limits and the doubled fines did not go away, and police still enforce them. The provincial government passed legislation ending municipal automated speed enforcement, described in the Government of Ontario’s announcement, and the City of Ottawa’s own data records that its cameras were deactivated on November 13, 2025. For parents, the practical change is simple. The cameras that used to mail tickets to speeders near schools are gone, so slower driving in a school zone now depends on the rules still being in force, which they are, and on officers enforcing them. We mention this because a great deal of older advice still assumes the cameras are running. They are not, and that changes how these cases are investigated.
| Offence | Fine | Demerit points |
| Speeding in a community safety zone (school area) | Rises with speed and doubles in the zone; 50+ km/h over is decided in court | 3 to 6, depending on how far over the limit |
| Passing a stopped school bus | $400 to $2,000 for a first offence; $1,000 to $4,000 after that, with possible jail up to 6 months | 6 |
| Disobeying a school crossing guard’s stop sign | $300, or $600 in a community safety zone, up to $1,000 on conviction | 4 |
| Failing to yield at a pedestrian crossover | $300, or $600 in a community safety zone, up to $1,000 on conviction | 4 |
Source: Government of Ontario, Driving near pedestrian crossovers and school crossings; Government of Ontario, School bus safety; Government of Ontario, Understanding demerit points; and Ontario Court of Justice, Highway Traffic Act set fines (Schedule 43). Fines shown are before the victim surcharge and court costs, and the highest-speed offences are decided in court rather than paid out of court.
What is the law when a driver passes a stopped school bus?
When a school bus is stopped with its upper red lights flashing or its stop arm out, you must stop, and on a road without a median that applies to traffic in both directions. This is one of the rules drivers most often get wrong, and it is one of the most dangerous to break, because children are usually about to cross.
On a road without a median or dividing barrier, every vehicle must stop, whether it is behind the bus or coming toward it. On a road with a median, only the traffic behind the bus has to stop, and if you are behind the bus you must stop at least 20 metres back, as the Government of Ontario explains. The bus signals in stages, flashing amber first to warn that it is about to stop, then flashing red once it has stopped. Children are taught to cross in front of the bus where the driver can see them, never behind it, and to wait for the driver’s signal before stepping out, as the Government of Ontario’s school bus safety guidance describes.
The penalties are among the highest for any moving offence, as the penalty table above shows, and the fines climb further for a repeat. The registered owner of the vehicle can also be charged even when the driver is not identified, including on camera evidence, as the Government of Ontario sets out. Those school bus stop-arm cameras are a separate program from the municipal speed cameras that were removed in 2025, and they were not affected by that ban.
What are the rules for crossing guards and crosswalks?
Where a school crossing guard holds up a stop sign, drivers must stop and stay stopped until everyone, including the guard, has completely cleared the road. At a pedestrian crossover, drivers and cyclists must yield the whole width of the roadway before moving on. These are strict rules, and in a designated community safety zone, the set fines for breaking them double.
It helps to know the difference between three things that look similar. A school crossing is any crossing where a guard is on duty or a school crossing stop sign is displayed, and there the driver must stop and let everyone clear the entire road, according to the Official MTO Driver’s Handbook. A pedestrian crossover is a marked crossing with specific signs, lights, and pavement markings, where drivers and cyclists must stop and yield the whole roadway, and must not pass another vehicle within 30 metres of it, as the Official MTO Truck Handbook explains. A regular crosswalk at an intersection is governed by the ordinary rules for signals and turns, including the duty to yield to pedestrians when you turn. Both offences carry demerit points and fines that double inside a community safety zone, as the penalty table above sets out, drawn from the Ontario Court of Justice set fines.
In Ottawa, the crossing guards themselves are part of a City program of trained, paid adult guards who help elementary students cross at approved locations. The City chooses those locations through a warrant process that weighs how many children cross there and what traffic control already exists, and parents can ask for a location to be reviewed by calling 3-1-1, as the City of Ottawa’s Traffic Services Catalogue describes. Where a guard should have been on duty and was not, that is part of the picture we look at.
What if your child is hurt at school or on school property?
A school board owes your child a real duty of care, measured by the standard of a careful and prudent parent, and it must also keep its grounds reasonably safe. A claim over an injury on school property can still carry a short notice deadline, especially a winter fall on snow or ice, so this is a place to act promptly.
The supervision duty is well established. Teachers and principals must maintain order and see to the safety of pupils in class, in the school, and on the school ground, under the Government of Ontario’s Education Act. When a court asks whether a school supervised a child properly, it applies the standard of a careful or prudent parent, a test the Supreme Court of Canada set in Myers v. Peel County Board of Education. That standard is not fixed. It expects closer supervision for younger children and for riskier activities, and lighter supervision where the risk is low. Separately, a school board is the occupier of its grounds and buildings, so it must take reasonable care to keep them safe for the children and families who use them, under the Government of Ontario’s Occupiers’ Liability Act.
The winter deadline is the one that catches families out. If your child is hurt in a fall caused by snow or ice on school property or other premises, no claim can proceed unless written notice is given within 60 days of the injury to the occupier or the contractor responsible for clearing the snow, again under the Occupiers’ Liability Act. A judge can excuse late notice where there is a reasonable excuse and the other side is not prejudiced, but that is never something to count on. If a winter fall at school is what brought you here, the safest step is to give that notice quickly.
How is a child compensated after an injury, and who brings the claim?
If a vehicle was involved, your child is covered by no-fault accident benefits no matter who was at fault, and a separate claim can be made against anyone responsible. Because your child is a minor, the claim is brought through a litigation guardian, often a parent, and any settlement has to be approved by a court to protect the child.
Accident benefits come from the auto insurance system and are paid regardless of fault, and they cover a child struck as a pedestrian or a cyclist, as the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario explains. A child pedestrian or cyclist can qualify for these benefits even without owning a vehicle, because Ontario’s priority rules, set out in the Government of Ontario’s Insurance Act, decide which insurer pays. If the child is already insured under a household auto policy, that insurer usually responds first. Otherwise the claim generally moves to the insurer of the vehicle that struck the child, then to another vehicle involved, and finally to the Government of Ontario’s Motor Vehicle Accident Claims Fund if no auto insurance is available. The core benefit is a combined pool for medical, rehabilitation, and attendant care. For non-catastrophic injuries that are not subject to Ontario’s Minor Injury Guideline, the standard combined limit is $65,000. The mildest injuries, which fall under that guideline, are generally capped at $3,500, and the most serious, catastrophic injuries carry a $1 million standard limit, according to FSRA’s coverage guidance. For a child there is an important detail: the $65,000 pool is available not just for the usual five years but until age 28 for someone injured before turning 18. One recent change is worth knowing. Since July 1, 2026, only medical, rehabilitation, and attendant care benefits are mandatory in an Ontario auto policy, and the others are now optional, as FSRA has confirmed. Your child keeps those core benefits whatever policy was in force. Which other benefits apply depends on the policy in force on the day of the accident, including any coverage carried over from before the change, because a policy bought before July 1, 2026 keeps its previous coverages and limits on renewal until the customer agrees in writing to change them. Optional benefits generally apply only to the named insured, their spouse and dependants, and drivers listed on the policy.
Beyond benefits, a claim can be made against whoever caused the injury, for the losses that benefits do not cover. A child’s family can claim too. Under the Government of Ontario’s Family Law Act, a parent, sibling, grandparent, or other close family member can recover for their own loss, including the loss of the child’s care, guidance, and companionship, and for the value of the care they provide. Because your child cannot sue in their own name, a parent usually acts as the litigation guardian who brings the claim, under the Government of Ontario’s Rules of Civil Procedure. Those same rules require a judge to approve any settlement of a child’s claim, so the amount is fair to the child, and the money is then protected for them, usually held until they come of age.
Can your child be blamed for the accident?
Rarely in the way an adult would be, and often not at all. The law does not hold a child to an adult’s standard of care. A child is judged by the care to be expected of a child of like age, intelligence, and experience, and for a very young child, their age and capacity can make a finding of fault inappropriate, a point drawn from the Supreme Court of Canada in McEllistrum v. Etches. Insurers sometimes suggest a child “ran out” or “should have looked.” That is a defence to be argued, not a fact to accept, and fault can be shared rather than pinned on the child.
How long do you have to make a claim for an injured child?
Longer than most parents expect for the lawsuit itself, and much shorter than they expect for the notices. A child’s two-year limitation period generally does not begin until their 18th birthday, but several notice deadlines are measured in days from the injury and are not paused by your child’s age. These two clocks work differently, and it is easy to confuse them.
Why the clock is different for a child
Most Ontario injury claims must be started within two years. For a child, that two-year clock is suspended for as long as they are a minor and do not have a litigation guardian appointed for the claim, under the Government of Ontario’s Limitations Act, 2002. In practice, this generally means that the ordinary two-year limitation period does not begin to run until the child turns 18, although there are exceptions involving the appointment of a litigation guardian. Parents should obtain legal advice rather than assume that they can safely wait until the child turns 18. The fifteen-year ultimate deadline that applies to other claims is also suspended while your child is a minor. So the lawsuit itself is rarely the thing in danger of being lost. The notices are.
The short notice deadlines that do not wait
The suspension above protects the right to sue. It does not extend the separate notices that some claims require before a lawsuit can even begin, and those are short. A claim against a municipality over an unsafe road or sidewalk requires written notice within 10 days of the injury, under the Government of Ontario’s Municipal Act, 2001. A snow or ice fall requires the 60-day notice to the occupier or its snow-removal contractor described earlier. A lawsuit over a car accident requires written notice of the intention to sue within 120 days, though a court can extend that, under the Government of Ontario’s Insurance Act. And on the benefits side, you generally must notify the auto insurer within 7 days, or as soon as practicable, and return the completed application within 30 days of receiving the forms, as FSRA sets out. A child’s age can sometimes be raised as a reasonable excuse for a late municipal or snow-and-ice notice, but that is a discretionary argument, decided case by case, and never a safe substitute for giving notice on time. The practical rule is to treat these notice periods as running from the day of the injury, whatever your child’s age.
| Deadline | What it applies to | Time limit |
| Notify your auto insurer | Any accident benefits claim after a motor vehicle accident (SABS) | 7 days, or as soon as practicable, then return the completed forms within 30 days of receiving them |
| Notice to a municipality | A claim over an unsafe municipal road or sidewalk (Municipal Act, 2001) | 10 days |
| Snow and ice notice | A fall on snow or ice, including on school grounds (Occupiers’ Liability Act) | 60 days |
| Notice of a car-accident lawsuit | Suing over injuries from a motor vehicle accident (Insurance Act) | 120 days (a court can extend this) |
| General limitation period | Starting most injury lawsuits (Limitations Act, 2002) | 2 years |
| A child’s limitation period | Starting a lawsuit for someone injured as a minor (Limitations Act, 2002) | Suspended while the child is a minor with no litigation guardian for the claim; generally starts at 18, then a 2-year period |
Source: Government of Ontario, Limitations Act, 2002; Municipal Act, 2001; Insurance Act; Occupiers’ Liability Act; and FSRA, After an Accident: Understanding the Claims Process.
Why acting early still protects your child’s claim
Even with the lawsuit clock suspended, waiting has a cost. Evidence fades. Vehicle damage is repaired, the road and weather on the day are forgotten, sightlines change with the seasons, and it becomes hard to establish whether a crossing guard was on duty. Camera and dashcam footage can be overwritten within weeks, and witnesses move and forget. Getting advice early lets us preserve that proof and meet the short notices, so that when your child is ready to bring a claim, years from now if need be, the case is not weakened by what was lost in the first month.
Common mistakes that can weaken a child’s injury claim
The most damaging mistakes are avoidable, and we see the same few often. Missing one of the short notice deadlines above is the most final of them. A close second is assuming a child who seems fine is fine. The delayed head-injury symptoms noted earlier can surface weeks later, which is why early medical follow-up matters both for your child and for the claim. Another is giving an insurer a recorded statement or broad access to a child’s records before you have any advice about how it can be used. Keep in mind, too, that adjusters may look at public social media. The last is settling too soon. A child is still growing, and the long-term effect of an injury on their development, schooling, and future work can take time to become clear, so a settlement accepted early can lock in a figure that turns out to be far too low. You do not need to treat the insurer as an enemy. Just remember that the adjuster is not your child’s advocate, and that a few early decisions can affect the whole claim.
What we look at first in a child’s school-zone case
When a family comes to us after a child is hurt near a school, a few things get our attention immediately, because they shape everything that follows. We move quickly to preserve the evidence that tends to disappear: nearby camera and dashcam footage, the vehicle, the road markings and sightlines at the crossing, and any record of whether a crossing guard was on duty. If a vehicle was involved, we pin down the exact insurance policy in force on the day, because the July 2026 changes mean two children with similar injuries can now have very different coverage. We look closely at how the injury has been assessed, since a child’s prognosis can change as they grow and heal. And we map every deadline against the calendar right away, so none of the short notice periods slips by while you focus on your child.
How we help families after a child is injured
Once we have that picture, our job is to carry the legal and insurance work so you can focus on your child. We identify everyone who may share responsibility, deal with the insurers and the accident-benefits paperwork, and guide you through the parts that are specific to a child’s claim, acting as litigation guardian and obtaining the court approval that protects your child’s settlement. We assign both a lawyer and a caseworker to every family, so there is always someone who knows your file, and we offer home and hospital visits when coming to us is difficult. We work on a contingency basis, which we describe as No Win, No Fee, and the first consultation is free. If you would like to talk through what happened to your child and what options may be available, you can reach out to arrange one.
About the author
Miryam Gorelashvili, LL.B., is the founder of MG Law and has practised personal injury law in Ottawa for over a decade, with a practice restricted to serious and catastrophic, life-changing injuries and wrongful death. Her work focuses on neurotrauma, spinal cord injuries, and other severe post-trauma conditions, and she has secured numerous catastrophic-impairment designations and millions in compensation for injured clients. You can read Miryam Gorelashvili’s full biography on the MG Law team page.
References
Frequently asked questions
Does it cost anything upfront to talk to a lawyer about my child’s injury?
No. We work on a contingency basis, so our fee is a percentage of what we recover, and you pay nothing upfront. The first consultation is free, so there is no cost simply to find out where your family stands.
What if the driver who hit my child was uninsured or fled the scene?
Your child may still be covered. Ontario auto policies include protection for accidents caused by an uninsured or unidentified driver, and where no insurance is available, the Government of Ontario’s Motor Vehicle Accident Claims Fund can be a source of recovery. These claims carry their own notice requirements, so do not wait to get advice.
My child was hurt on the school bus, not by a passing car. Does that change things?
It does. An injury that happens on the bus itself points more toward the bus operator and the school board’s transportation arrangements than toward a passing driver, and the way responsibility is assessed is different. It is still a situation to have reviewed, because the compensation questions for your child are much the same.
Do we have to go to court to settle our child’s claim?
A judge does have to approve any settlement of a child’s claim, but that is usually a paperwork step your lawyer prepares and handles, not a trial. The purpose is to make sure the settlement is fair to your child and that the money is protected for them.
Legal information, not legal advice
This article explains general rules and current figures for Ontario, and it is legal information, not legal advice for your situation. The law, the benefit amounts, and the deadlines change over time, and how they apply depends on the facts of your case. Please speak with a lawyer about your child’s own circumstances before acting.
