Respect Laws, Stop for School Buses or Pay the Steep Fines as Schools Reopen

Courtesy Polk County Schools

Drivers ignoring the stop arm on school buses this year will begin to feel the heat as they are heavily fined for the violation of passing a stopped school bus. New cameras will collect information to identify the violators.

The serious and too-often deadly violation of passing a stopped school bus is receiving an appropriately-serious response in Polk County, and drivers should be alert and aware.

To combat the recurring problem, all Polk County school buses are being equipped with cameras to identify drivers passing buses when the stop-arm is activated.

According to the Florida Association of School Administrators, a survey revealed that "98,065 school bus drivers reported that 66,322 vehicles passed their buses illegally on a single day during the 2023-2024 school year."

Those same statistics point to more than 45.2 million violations per year nationally.

Between 2010 to 2019 there were 126 school bus crash fatalities. Among them were 58 were drivers and 68 students. Over the past 53 years, 73% of the 1,267 fatalities have involved students aged nine years and younger.

Courtesy Polk County Schools

Bus-mounted cameras will be used to "nail" the drivers who create hazardous conditions by passing stopped school buses. The cameras are being installed on every Polk County School bus.

In response, school bus safety cameras will be operational on the buses starting the first day of school, Aug. 12. Polk County is just one of several Florida counties employing cameras in an enforcement safety program, according to Polk County Officials.

The program was announced in a press conference by Polk School Superintendent Fred Heid and Sheriff Grady Judd.

Because of the inherent danger of a vehicle passing a stopped school bus receiving or dropping off children, the financial penalty for a violation is $225. If a car passes on the door side of a school bus, the fine is doubled.

Courtesy Polk County Schools

Polk County School Superintendent Fred Heid(L) and Polk Sheriff Grady Judd announced the new enforcement effort designed to eliminate the crime of passing a stopped school bus.

Despite the dangers created by unlawful drivers, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says that students are about 70 times more likely to get to school safely on a bus than traveling by car.