Bridgeville Police Chief Chad King reminded residents earlier this month that “stop” signs that extend from school buses actually do means “stop,” and that it’s illegal to try to drive around the bus.
“Unfortunately, we’ve had to write a few tickets for cars passing the school buses whenever they’ve been loading up students,” King told council earlier this month.
Violating Pennsylvania’s school bus stopping law can bring a $250, five points on your driving record, and a 60-day license suspension.
Here’s a quick summary of the law via PennDOT:
- Motorists must stop at least 10 feet away from school buses that have their red lights flashing and stop arm extended.
- Motorists must stop when they are behind a bus, meeting the bus or approaching an intersection where a bus is stopped.
- Motorists following or traveling alongside a school bus must also stop until the red lights have stopped flashing, the stop arm is withdrawn, and all children have reached safety.
- If physical barriers such as grassy medians, guide rails or concrete median barriers separate oncoming traffic from the bus, motorists in the opposing lanes may proceed without stopping.
- Do not proceed until all the children have reached a place of safety.