Illegal School Bus Passing Remains Major Safety Threat, NASDPTS Survey Reveals

By Christy Grimes

Illegal school bus passing continues to be a major problem across the United States, despite the penalties in place for passing motorists.

The National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services (NASDPTS) released results from its 12th annual survey on illegal school bus passing, showing a nearly 4% increase year-over-year.

While the school bus is generally the safest way for children to travel to and from school, illegal passing is a major threat to students as they try to board or disembark the bus.

Videos of incidents showing heart-stopping close calls by passing motorists make headlines across the country every school year.

How the Results Were Determined

In 35 states throughout the country and the District of Columbia, just over a quarter of the nation’s school bus drivers participated in a one-day survey to report motorists who passed their stopped school buses.

In the survey, 98,065 school bus drivers reported that 66,322 vehicles passed their buses illegally on a single day during the 2023-2024 school year.

Adjusting for 100% of the school bus drivers in the U.S., we would have seen just over 251,000 illegal passings.

While the results only represent a single day, projections of the same trend across a 180-day school year, these sample results point to more than 45.2 million violations per year among America’s motoring public.

That's an almost 4% increase from the 43.5 million projected violations the previous school year.

The results were revealed at the 2024 National School Transportation Association's Annual Meeting & Convention in Nashville, Tennessee.

In the Kansas State Department of Education's most recent national Loading and Unloading Survey, analysts found three fatalities that occurred during the 2022-2023 school year during the loading or unloading process.

Analysis from the survey revealed that 73% of the 1,267 fatalities in the past 53 years have involved students 9 and younger. While the number of deaths decreased year-over-year, the number of projected infractions continues to rise.

“The illegal passing of stopped school buses continues to be the greatest safety danger to children. We at the National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services hope the results of this survey remind all motorists to pay attention to the yellow school bus, to follow the laws in their state, and stop to allow for the safe loading and unloading of each school bus, and to their part for the safety of our children," NASDPTS President Mike Stier said. "We encourage each state to use this information to bring attention to this critical safety issue and engage all resources necessary to ensure each child is protected."

The survey has been conducted annually since 2011, with the exception of 2020 and 2021 when the survey was not conducted due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting school closures across the country.

The survey results have brought greater attention by state and federal policy makers to the need for greater safety countermeasures.

In recent years, several states have increased penalties for violations, authorized the use of photo evidence for issuing citations, or enacted other measures designed to deter this dangerous practice.

Legislation and Penalties in Place for Illegal School Bus Passing

According to NASDPTS, 49 states have penalties in place for the illegal passing of school buses, varying from point removals on driver licenses to fines. Arizona is the only state that does not have penalties in place.

The National Conference of State Legislatures reports that as of 2024, at least 25 states have school bus stop-arm camera laws in place.

These laws authorize localities or school districts to use stop-arm cameras or other external cameras to capture video of drivers illegally passing school buses while stop arms are extended.

Video from those cameras can then be used to send traffic citations to those who illegal pass school buses.

In 2023, two U.S. representatives sponsored the Jackie Walorski Enhancing Necessary Data (END) Illegal Passing Act, a follow-up to the STOP for School Bus Act (STOP Act).

H.R. 3998 aims to honor the late Congresswoman Jackie Walorski, an Indiana U.S. representative who was killed in a head-on collision in 2022. Walorski served as prime sponsor for the STOP Act. The National School Transportation Association visited Capitol Hill in March 2024 advocating for the bill.

Using Technology to Curb Illegal School Bus Passing

School districts are increasingly relying on emerging technologies to combat the issue.

Safe Fleet recently announced the launch of its Stop Arm Violation Enforcement System (SAVES). It leverages AI technology to capture and process stop-arm violations with unparalleled accuracy, providing comprehensive evidence to aid in deterring future incidents and protecting students, School Bus Fleet previously reported.

Using strategically placed cameras on the sides of the school bus, including ALPR (Automated License Plate Recognition) and context cameras, SAVES delivers evidence of violations through a comprehensive evidence package.

In Maryland, the Harford County Public School System has partnered with AngelTrax - the district's internal school bus camera provider - for a pilot program using external cameras to record illegal passing violations.

SBF previously reported that the district's pupil transportation director believes the implementation of the technology has increased awareness by local motorists.

These are just two examples of recent technologies aimed at protecting students during loading and unloading.