As children return to classrooms across the Philadelphia region, school safety officials are reminding motorists to heed school bus safety laws to keep kids safe.
It is illegal in all 50 states to pass a stopped school bus when children are entering and exiting a bus and the stop arm is extended.
According to the Patch, in Pennsylvania, the law requires drivers to stop at least 10 feet away from school buses with red lights flashing and stop arms extended. Only when the lights stop flashing, stop arms are withdrawn, and children have reached a safe place are drivers permitted to proceed.
One exception to this rule exists: Drivers approaching a stopped school bus with its red lights flashing and stop arm extended who are on the opposite side of a divided highway that has barriers, such as guide rails, landscaping, medians, and other physical objects, do not need to stop.
Failure to stop for a school bus with a flashing red light and extended stop arm will result in a 60-day driver’s license suspension, five points on one’s driving record, and a fine.
Pennsylvania has joined 26 other states in adopting stop-arm camera laws. In the Keystone State, school districts can install and operate a side stop-signal arm enforcement system to enforce rules relating to meeting or overtaking a school bus. This implementation can only be done if the district’s board votes to implement a stop-arm camera program.
According to the National Safety Council, in 2023, the most recent year for which data is available, 128 people died nationwide in school bus-related accidents. Five of those deaths were in Pennsylvania.
Safety officials point out that not all the fatalities in 2023 resulted from a driver’s failure to follow school bus stop-arm laws. However, in most cases when children are injured or killed, it’s when the bus has stopped, the lights are flashing, and the stop arm is extended, according to safety experts.
