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School Buses Are Back, So Know When to Stop
A photo of a school bus with the STOP sign extended.

As students across Puget Sound prepare to return to their classrooms for another year of learning, here's a timely reminder from the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) about school bus safety.

Students aren't the only ones preparing. School transportation teams are also busy ensuring that their buses are ready to safely transport students each day.

But that's just one aspect of keeping students safe. Communities also have to do their part. The 2026 survey released by the National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services (NASDPTS) shows that illegally passing stopped school buses remains a serious concern, with Washington school bus drivers documenting 960 illegal passes during the course of the one-day survey! Multiply this across Washington's 180-day school year, and that’s more than 172,000 potential violations affecting the safety of the nearly 341,000 Washington K-12 students who ride the bus each day.

To help keep those students safe, Washington state law clearly outlines when drivers must stop for school buses:

  • On a two-lane road, drivers traveling in both directions must stop when the bus’s flashing red lights or retractable stop sign are activated.
  • On roads with three or more marked lanes or on highways divided into separate roadways, drivers traveling in the opposite direction are not required to stop.
  • However, drivers traveling in the same direction as the bus must always stop. Those who don’t stop and illegally pass a stopped school bus face a mandatory $500 fine that cannot be waived, reduced, or suspended.
  • The Washington state Department of Licensing's Driver Guide also reminds drivers to continue watching for children along the roadway even after a bus's red lights stop flashing and its stop sign is retracted.

As school buses fill Washington's roads again, drivers should drive with caution and patience. When in doubt? Stop!

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