by Jennifer Pritchett
Northern News Services

NNSL (Jan 22/97) - City bylaw staff are pairing up with school bus drivers to make sure motorists are stopping for students.

At the same time, they've launched a campaign to heighten public awareness of the danger of not stopping.

"It's a program that we've been doing off and on for the past two years," said Gil Cox, manager of the municipal enforcement division.

The officers ride the buses to make sure motorists are stopping when the red lights are flashing on the buses. Another officer rides behind the bus in the cruiser.

"We want to make sure than the level of compliance is high," he said.

Periodic checks indicate that most drivers stop for students getting on and off school buses, but Cox said that bylaw officers will continue their periodic ride-a-longs to keep a close watch.

"Here (in the North) the unique conditions of darkness and ice-fog require a greater vigilance on the part of the bus drivers and the motorists," he said.

A couple of warning tickets and one charge was laid during the last campaign, which ran in early January for a week-and-a-half.

Penalties for passing a bus with its lights flashing include a $200 fine and a six driver's licence demerit points. Police say those demerits will double the cost of insurance.

"We don't want to breath down the bus drivers' necks, but it helps for the officers to see things from the drivers' point of view," said Cox.

Bob Boettger, general manager of the Arctic Frontier Carriers bus line, agrees that the program is necessary to ensure the safety of kids who ride the buses.

"We don't want to report people unnecessarily, but we don't want to have an accident here before we do something," he said. "Our primary concern is the kids."

Boettger anticipated that the checks will continue once a week.