Operation Safe Stop Highlights National School Bus Safety Week

On Wednesday, October 24, the 22nd annual Operation Safe Stop will be conducted in communities across the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

This event is apart of National School Bus Safety Week, which runs from Monday, October 22 to Friday, October 26.

Operation Safe Stop is a public awareness and enforcement effort to educate the public that passing a stopped school bus, especially when children are loading or unloading, is both dangerous and illegal.

Each year law enforcement agencies, school transportation providers, student transportation associations and PennDOT have combined their efforts to raise public awareness about the potential consequences and reduce the occurrence of illegal school bus passes, through Operation Safe Stop.

Pennsylvania’s School Bus Stopping Law requires motorists to stop at least 10 feet away from school buses that have their red lights flashing and stop arm extended.

Motorists must stop when they are behind the 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or traveling alongside a school bus must also stop until the red lights have stopped flashing, the stop arm is withdrawn, and all children have reached safety.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.

Below are links to the 2018 Operation Safe Stop booklets in PDF format:

Operation Safe Stop: School Districts

Operation Safe Stop: Police Departments