Bills › 88th General Assembly
Relating to penalties for drivers of motor vehicles who pass, or fail to reduce speed or stop for, school buses, and including effective date provisions
Topics:Transportation
Where it is now
- Done: IntroducedFebruary 7, 2019
- Stopped: SubcommitteeDied when the General Assembly ended
- Next: House committee
- Next: Passes the House
- Next: Senate committee
- Next: Passes the Senate
- Next: To the Governor
- Next: Signed into law
Died when the session ended The 2020 session adjourned on June 14, 2020, the General Assembly’s last regular session. Bills that didn’t pass both chambers died. What’s a funnel?
What’s in it
Under current law, the driver of a vehicle, when meeting a school bus with flashing amber warning lamps, is required to reduce the vehicle’s speed to not more than miles per hour, and to bring the vehicle to a complete stop when the school bus stops and the stop signal arm is extended. The vehicle must remain stopped until the stop signal arm is retracted, after which time the driver may proceed with due caution. The driver of a vehicle overtaking a school bus is prohibited from passing a school bus when red or amber warning signal lights are flashing.
Read the full explanation
The driver is required to bring the vehicle to a complete stop no closer than feet from the school bus when it is stopped and the stop arm is extended, and the vehicle is required to remain stopped until the stop arm is retracted and the school bus resumes motion. A first offense of these provisions is a simple misdemeanor punishable by a fine of at least $250 but not more than $675 or by imprisonment for not more than days, or both. A second or subsequent offense is a serious misdemeanor punishable by confinement for no more than one year and a fine of at least $315 but not more than $1,875.482A, a violation causing serious injury is punishable by an additional fine of $500 or suspension of the violator’s driver’s license for not more than days, or both, and a violation causing death is punishable by an additional fine of $1,000 or suspension of the violator’s driver’s license for not more than 180 days, or both. In 2012, the general assembly required the department of transportation (DOT) to, by administrative rule, classify an offense under these provisions as a serious violation.210.210. The bill provides that the DOT must initiate rulemaking to require persons convicted of a first school bus safety offense to participate in a driver improvement program in lieu of driver’s license suspension. This provision of the bill takes effect upon enactment.