Automated School Bus Enforcement Program

Pennsylvania law allows school districts to install and operate automated camera systems for the purpose of enforcing Pennsylvania's School Bus Stopping Law and increasing safety for children riding school buses across the state. Of the $300 fine assessed for these automated violations, the law requires $25 be paid to PennDOT to be used for a school bus safety grant program.

75 Pa.C.S. §3345.1 provides specific requirements for automated school bus enforcement vendors, school entities, and system administrators.

PennDOT has also provided the following resources:

• 67 PA Code §171b provides temporary regulations to ensure the proper systems and certifications are occurring for automated school bus side stop signal arm enforcement systems.
• PennDOT has compiled a list of the current PennDOT Certified Automated School Bus Enforcement Systems.
• School entities and system administrators can find detailed program information in the Automated School Bus Enforcement Program Guidelines.

Questions? Review the Frequently Asked Questions for answers to common inquiries or email us at RA-PDASBEGP@pa.gov.

• Motorists must stop at least 10 feet away from school buses that have their red lights flashing and stop arm activated.
• 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or traveling alongside a school bus must also stop until the red lights have stopped flashing, the stop arm is withdrawn, and all children have reached safety.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.

Check out these graphics that help illustrate Pennsylvania’s school bus stopping law.

For more on Pennsylvania’s school bus stopping law, visit PennDOT’s School Bus Safety page.