It's School Bus Safety Week, and with hundreds of school buses traveling around the Pembina Valley every week, Angela Plett has some safety tips for drivers.

Plett is the Transportation Supervisor for Garden Valley School Division and says, "it is important [that] whenever you see a school bus you should know that there are more than likely kids on it."

Throughout the year, schools go through multiple drills with their students to teach them about bus safety.

"There is a crossing arm in front of the bus. They've been there for at least 20 years I believe, which makes the students cross three metres in front of the bus. That's so that the driver can see them at all times and they are safe as they are crossing, as the driver supervises them when they go across the road," says Plett.

With the students knowing how to stay safe, a frequent concern is people who are passing buses while the stop signs are extended and lights are flashing.

"If you see the amber lights flashing that means the bus is going to come to a stop. Don't assume it's just pretending," she says. "When it comes to a stop the red lights will go on and you are required by law to come to a full-stop within five metres of the bus."

Plett also says bus drivers give a number of warning signs before they stop, and will keep kids on the bus until it is safe for them to exit. "They will move slightly to the right to take away any opportunity to pass on the right-hand side. They will slowly come to a stop, watching their mirrors to make sure traffic will come to a stop. When they are at a stop they do one final check and then open the door which activates the red loading, or unloading lights."

As some of the newer buses in the fleet are longer than the old ones, it is not uncommon to see a bus with an additional stop sign at the rear.

Grant Spencer is Shop Manager at the Centre-Line Pupil Transportation garage. He says "we do lots of camera footage with the buses to make sure that drivers aren't passing the buses when they're stopped [and] unloading the children."

On the driver's side there is a camera at the front which points towards the back, and another at the rear that points towards the front. If bus drivers see someone passing illegally, they can simply push a button next to them that marks the spot in the video. Plett can later pull out the cartridge, check the video, and send a screenshot to the police that shows the license plate of the vehicle in violation.

Spencer adds, "The police enforcement is helping us quite a bit with prosecuting people that do go by the buses."