A school bus is stopped on Emeline Street in Milford with the stop arm activated. It is against the law, in most situations, to drive past a bus with the stop arm activated.

SYRACUSE — For anyone who takes care of a child in school and that child rides on a bus, it is a scary and unsettling thought, to say the least, a vehicle driver would disregard an activated stop arm of the bus and drive on through.

But it does happen and statistics indicate it occurs far too often. According to an annual survey prompted by the National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services in April earlier this year, one day was set aside for bus drivers to tally stop arm violations in Indiana. A total of 145 school districts statewide participated, including the Wawasee Community School Corporation.

Wawasee had one stop arm violation in the afternoon of that day in April, but statewide there were 2,280 violations, mostly from the front side of buses. That’s just one day.

At the Sept. 12 Wawasee school board meeting, Rhonda Ousley, who lives near North Webster, said at that time, less than a full month into the school year, she had observed four stop arm violations in the same location on SR 13. She waits with her grandchildren until they board the bus. Ousley asked the school board to consider mounting cameras outside buses on the stop arm side.

Sgt. Ted Bohner, public information officer for the Indiana State Police, said stop arm violations is a common occurrence police officers deal with. As discouraging as it may sound, the problem is likely not going to go away completely. “It will always be there,” he said. “Just like you have people who continually run stop signs and red lights. Not everyone will follow all the rules.”

Bohner said school bus safety is very important because it “involves our children.” He said ISP tries to educate the public every year before the start of a new school year. “We put out the rules,” he said. “If you are on a two-lane road or a multi lane road, you need to stop (when a school bus has its arm activated) unless there is an unimproved barrier or median.”

Running a stop arm is a ticketed offense and is considered a class A infraction. Depending on the circumstances involved, the fine could be as much as $10,000.

Enforcing this is a challenge for law enforcement who can’t be everywhere at the same time. “It takes a police officer being there at the right time,” Bohner said.

He noted people who choose to not stop when a bus stop arm is activated are often impatient and don’t want to wait because they feel their agendas are more important. Admittedly, he said, sometimes a driver can be distracted and not realize what they are doing until it is too late.

Some states require cameras to be mounted on the outside of buses. Bohner noted. But, he cautioned, problems can arise because sometimes the ticketed driver is not the actual owner of the vehicle.

Mike Snavley, director of transportation for Wawasee schools, said in states where buses have cameras mounted on the outside, companies will monitor those cameras. Indiana tried to get a bill passed, but it failed.

“It baffles me why people think it is OK to drive on through there,” Snavley said. “Some people just don’t like stopping for a bus.”

He said bus drivers are trained to watch the front and back of the bus and to make sure, as much as possible, vehicles are stopped before they let kids out of the bus to cross a road.

Snavley noted the dangers can arise when kids are boarding and off loading buses.