The Weyburn Police Service is reminding motorists about the rules when it comes to passing school buses.

“If the bus is stopped and they have their flashers on and they have deployed their stop arms, it's for the safety of the passengers getting on and off our school buses that vehicles are to stop and wait for the kids to either get on or get off the bus,” said Chief of Police Marlo Pritchard. “And it is an offense to fail to stop for a bus arm.”

The ticket for passing a school bus with red lights flashing, and the stop arm out, is $360.

“If they're in that same lane and they have that stop arm extended and the light's flashing, it's designed to stop traffic in case the kids are crossing the road or anything like that,” he explained.

He said the WPS does get periodic complaints where people don't stop.

“We do charge occasionally,” said Pritchard. “It's not something we do every day. It's more about the education we try to focus on.”

He said the bus cameras assist police in enforcing the rules.

“If we do get complaints, there are bus cameras that we do use, and we identify the drivers or the registered owners and we go from there,” he said. “So it's about the safety of the kids and the children that are using the buses.”

“We encourage everybody to slow down in the school zones, slow down around buses, even if they don't have the stop arm extended, but if they do have the arm, of course, stop and wait and give them the few minutes that they need,” he added.