Passing a school bus as it loads, unloads kids is illegal.

State troopers boarded Austin Independent School District buses on Thursday to keep an eye out for drivers who failed to stop for the vehicles while they loaded and unloaded children.

Texas Department of Public Safety officers throughout the state took part in the enforcement initiative, which coincided with National School Bus Safety Week, Oct. 17-21.

Trooper Rheanne Garcia, an 18-year veteran of the department, tailed a bus early Thursday headed to Reilly Elementary School.

While she didn’t stop any drivers during her sweep to the school, she said a friend who drives buses in Georgetown told her sometimes as many as three cars blow by while the bus is stopped on any given day.

DPS Sgt. Victor Taylor said that is a big problem.

“Children are being injured by motorists that are not paying attention to their driving (or) their surroundings, especially when our children are being loaded, or offloading school buses,” he said. “That’s when they’re the most vulnerable.”

Shortly after the current school year started, the Austin school district released video showing two children in separate incidents being struck by vehicles that failed to stop for buses let- ting kids out. Neither child was seriously injured, thedistrict said.

Inadditionto getting extra attention from law enforcement, the school district started using busmounted video cameras in January to help police catch and cite drivers who illegally pass buses.

More than 42,000 school buses carry about 1.5 million children to school in Texas every day, according to the DPS. applicants as from those interviews has led