It's bright yellow and black, like a bumble bee, and it should signal "danger."

With school back in session, school buses are back on the road, picking up children in the morning and dropping them off at the end of the school day.

But Jim Formosa, local bus driver and trainer, is tired of commuters whipping past school buses instead of stopping and waiting for kids to mount and dismount.

"Someone is going to get hit - a child is going to get hurt," Formosa said.

About 500 students take the school bus regularly in the Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows school district, many in rural areas in east Maple Ridge and in north and west Pitt Meadows.

The school district's manager of transportation, Paul Harrison, said that Ford Road Detour is an "especially dangerous spot" and that rural roads tend to be more dangerous than urban ones.

"Drivers get upset and try to zoom by the bus," he said. "This is especially the case on rural roads, where drivers get more impatient with all the stops."

"I think that possibly a lot of people don't recall their driver's ed," he added. "They forget that when a school bus has its flashers on and stop sign out, they can't pass it - not even if they're heading towards it from the opposite direction."

According to the Motor Vehicle Act, when a school bus stops, puts on its lights, and extends its stop sign, cars going both directions on a street have to come to a complete halt and wait for children to cross, the lights to stop flashing, and the stop sign pulled in again.

The fine for not stopping for a school bus is $167.

When Formosa trains school bus drivers, who receive 50 hours of training, he emphasizes the most important aspect is the safety of the children.

"The most important part of this job is picking up and dropping off the kids," Formosa said.

Formosa said he'd like drivers to be more aware of school buses and why they are on the road.

"Let these bus drivers do their job," he said. "I just want the public to be more aware of school buses."

mrantanen@mrtimes.com