Flashing school-zone lights and big yellow school buses might seem hard to ignore, but many people do. NEWS9's Ali Myers rode along with Sgt. Todd Criss with the Ohio State Highway Patrol Wintersville post as he made his routine patrol through local school districts.

"Each year at the start of the school year, we assign a trooper to patrol the school zones in the county," Criss said. Whether troopers stay parked to catch speeders or patrol the streets, they said keeping children safe is a priority.

Criss said many times troopers catch speeders just outside the school zones.

"It's normally people rushing to get to school or rushing home from school," he said.

During NEWS9's ride-along, a student was pulled over for driving 52 mph in a 35 mph zone. Another driver was nabbed for 56 mph in a 45 mph zone on State Route 43 near Richmond.

In Ohio County, W.Va., school officials were fed up with drivers speeding past school buses once the buses' stop arms were out.

"It was an everyday occurrence, multiple occurrences," said Ohio County Schools Transportation Director Gary Kestner.

School officials campaigned last spring to install cameras on the outside and inside of every school bus. On the first day of school in August, the cameras caught drivers speeding past. Since then however, Kestner said the problem has decreased dramatically.

"It's made an impact. We've got (drivers') attention. They realize now we'll do anything we have to do to protect our children, and they need to use caution when approaching a school bus -- whether (the) lights are on or not," Kestner said.

Indian Creek School District buses have inside cameras. Superintendent John Rocchi rode all 15 buses along every bus route in September.

"Some of the bus stops are very early in the morning and it's still dark," said Rocchi, adding that some parents stay with their children at the bus stop or in nearby in cars to supervise during inclement weather.

The district also teaches children to use the 911 radio and how to set the air brake inside the bus if something happens to the driver. There are designated places of safety at each stop, and bus drivers are also required to do extensive training each school year.

"Each one of them had a story about a situation where a car ran through their light. And if that's your child, your heart drops to your stomach. That could take the life of a child," Rocchi said.

He said Indian Creek bus drivers know the name of each student and they take their job very seriously.

The laws on when to stop for a stopped school bus are different between Ohio and West Virginia. The confusion isn't on two-lane roads. It's comes once drivers are dealing three- or four-lane roads that differ between the two states.

In West Virginia, state troopers said drivers have to stop no matter which direction they're coming from. State police said any driver approaching a school bus from either direction must stop when the bus' stop sign is out and its lights are flashing. The rule goes for any road, no matter how many lanes there are.

In Ohio, state troopers said opposing traffic does not have to stop for a bus on a divided or four-lane highway. All traffic does have to stop on three-lane highways -- like Route 40 in St. Clairsville, which has a left-turn lane. Traffic also has to stop on two-lane roads for buses when the sign is out and lights are flashing.