LA PORTE, Ind. -- The La Porte Police Department is increasing patrols to watch for drivers who are failing to stop for a school bus per Indiana law.

The increased patrols begin Monday.

La Porte Police Chief Tom Owens stated, “Despite the efforts of our on-duty patrol shifts in trying to address this chronic problem, we are still receiving a lot of complaints from the public of motorists passing school buses when the stop arm is activated. Therefore, we will be deploying more officers during the times school buses will be on our roadways before and after school. Our department has a zero tolerance for this serious violation and motorists who violate it will be stopped and ticketed.”

Indiana law requires that motorists stop when a school bus has its stop arm signal device extended. This law applies on all roadways and for vehicles approaching from both directions, unless the roadway is divided by a physical barrier, (e.g. concrete wall), or unimproved median (e.g. grass).

Violation of this requirement is a Class A infraction. Recklessly passing a school bus with the stop arm extended is a Class B misdemeanor. The offense is elevated to a Class A misdemeanor if it causes bodily injury to a person.