The Yukon's RCMP are thinking outside the squad car with a new strategy to stop people from speeding and driving aggressively around school buses.

The Whitehorse RCMP say they have been receiving complaints from school bus drivers of vehicles passing them at excessive speeds or when their lights are flashing for pick-up or drop-off of students

So this morning, Cpl. Shawn Pollard, head of the Yukon's traffic division, boarded the school bus along the South Klondike Highway route to try to catch speeders and illegal passers in the act.

"We'd done something similar in the south where we were dealing with transport trucks getting passed on corners,” Pollard said today of where the idea came from.

"It's difficult for a bus driver to not only drive and look after the kids, but to be writing down licence plate numbers when they see someone passing them and then alerting police.”

Not that Pollard had a much easier time of it.

"Having about a hundred kids trying to talk to me, sitting six to a seat, made it a bit hard to focus on the road,” Pollard said with a laugh.

Three squad cars were posted along the route, waiting for Pollard's call should he spot someone passing the bus while its lights were flashing, or speeding past on the highway.

Pollard didn't see any driving infractions today, he said, but one of the officers following behind the bus stopped a driver who was going 162 km per hour in a 90 km/h zone.

Pollard noted there is a $200 fine for passing a bus while it is stopped to let students off.

Traffic enforcement officers will continue to do regular and random ride-alongs on the various school bus routes "until we get the message out,” Pollard said.

He said he will continue to rely heavily on information from school bus drivers, both to identify dangerous drivers and to report improvements.

The initiative is being done in co-operation with the Department of Education.

"Aggressive drivers will continue to be targeted and the public is encouraged to report aggressive drivers,” the RCMP said in a statement.

"In order to issue a ticket, a witness must be willing to attend court and possibly testify to what they witnessed. They must be able to identify the driver or be able to identify the vehicle through a licence plate.”