Recently, BusPatrol shared a video of illegal school bus stop-arm violations that were recorded during the first half of the 2024-2025 school year.

Illegal Passings Endanger Students

Hillsborough County Public Schools partnered with BusPatrol to install safety technology on its entire school bus fleet to improve student safety and reduce reckless driving around stopped school buses.

Florida now ranks second in the U.S. for fatal school bus accidents, and the Florida Department of Education reports that over 11,000 illegal passes occur daily. Over a 180-day school year, the total number of violations is estimated to be nearly 2 million at this rate. Just 14 seconds into the video, a car can be seen racing toward a group of more than four students boarding a school bus with stop arms extended and flashing. At 51 seconds, a student crosses the street to get on the bus seconds before a car speeds through the area.

“Through the BusPatrol program, school districts and law enforcement come together to make students’ journeys to and from school safer and prevent tragedies,” said Steve Randazzo, chief growth officer at BusPatrol. “Not only do our cameras capture stop-arm violations, but we use AI to try and identify dangerous bus stops on a route. Our goal is to prevent even one child from being hurt and we are calling on local motorists to share in this moral responsibility to protect our children on their journey to and from school.”

Several reports have come out since January exposing tragic crashes involving school bus stop arm violations.

In Indiana, police shared this video of a car going around a stopped school bus picking up two students. The driver ignored the flashing lights and stop signs, narrowly missing the two kids. Since this was posted, the driver was identified and is cooperating with authorities. She faces two felony counts of criminal recklessness.

In Kanawha County, West Virginia, a child was nearly struck after unloading when a vehicle passed the stopped school bus. The driver was arrested for a second offense of driving under the influence shortly and was held in a regional jail on multiple charges.

Campaign for School Bus Safety

A school bus safety campaign was run at the beginning of the 2024/2025 school year.

The program focused on changing driver’s behavior over time and educating everyone driving on the roads about the consequences of passing school buses. In most states, vehicles traveling in both directions must stop for school buses with their stop arms extended on two-lane and multi-lane roads.The NSTA is also advocating for a national PSA campaign to increase the public’s awareness of stop-arm laws. This is still a rampant problem across the country, although progress is being made to make school buses safer for students.