You're running late, you have only seven minutes to make it to work, and it's just your luck to get behind a school bus on a busy country road.

After the third stop, you can't stand it anymore, and the next time the coast is clear, even though the bus's stop arm is out, you zoom around the bus. After all, who's to know?

School has been in session for a month now, and, according to Della Swain, transportation director for Warsaw Community Schools, improper passing of school buses is common.

"It happens almost daily," she said.

Usually cars pass buses in the left lane of the street or road. But recently one bus driver reported a car passing on the right side while students were leaving the bus.

"Had the driver not been paying attention, a child would have stepped off the bus right into the path of that car," Swain said.

A driver who endangers kids by improperly passing can get a ticket, even after the fact, if the bus driver gets the description of the car, notes the car's license plate number and identifies the driver.

And there's the rub. A bus driver's primary responsibility is to ensure the safety of the students, which means they don't always have time to look closely at the driver of a car that may be improperly passing, Swain said.

To help bus drivers who are plagued by improperly passing vehicles, said Kosciusko County Sheriff Al Rovenstine, the county will station patrol cars at strategic places.

It's also the duty of school bus drivers to make sure all of their students are aware of safety rules, Swain said.

"All drivers teach their children what to do," she said. "The child knows to watch for cars on the outside."

Just in case there are any questions about what to do when a school bus stops to load or unload kids, here are the rules:

• If you're behind the bus and its lights are flashing, whether they're red or amber, you stop. The flashing lights mean the bus is getting ready to stop.

• When the stop arm is out on the bus, you stop. The bus is getting ready to load or unload kids.

• If the bus is not in front of you but is in the other lane coming toward you, and the lights come on and/or the stop arm comes out, you stop.

"Unless you have a separate median barrier, like U.S. 30, you must stop," Swain said.

Swain, the county sheriff's department and the Warsaw Police Department want all drivers to know that the safety of school children is a priority. Bus drivers will be watching when vehicles disregard the lights and stop arms, and police will not hesitate to write tickets. [[In-content Ad]]