When To Stop For A School Bus: Know The Law In Michigan

School buses will soon join the normal mix of morning and afternoon traffic on Michigan streets and highways.

Knowing stop arm laws — and following them — can reduce the number of kids killed or injured every year in America getting on or off the school bus, transportation safety officials say.

Every year, nearly 500,000 school buses take about 25 million elementary through high school students to and from school, traveling about 5.7 million miles in a single school year. These kids are 70 times more likely to arrive at school alive than those students who get to school by other means, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

However, the National Transportation Safety Board noted on its website, “far too many drivers simply choose to ignore the law for their own convenience and put children at risk.”

What Michigan’s Laws Say

In Michigan, the law requires that drivers stop at least 20 feet from a school bus when it has its red lights flashing. Drivers must remain stopped until the bus' red lights turn off or until the bus resumes driving.

However, drivers do not need to stop for the bus if it's on the other side of a divided road with a barrier, such as a concrete or grass median, an island or other structures that divide the two roads.

Those who vIolate the law are subject to anywhere between $100 and $500 fine and may also be required to perform up to 100 hours of community service at a school.

While all 50 states and the District of Columbia make it illegal to pass a stopped school bus with its red flashing lights active and stop arm required, at least 31 states have school bus stop-arm camera laws to allow for cameras to record illegal passing, according to a National Conference of State Legislatures tally last updated in October 2025 and Kentucky legislation enacted this year.

In Michigan, school buses are allowed to be equipped with stop-arm cameras, which can take pictures and/or video of drivers who illegally pass for up to 200 feet in front of the school bus.

The camera captures the driver’s vehicle and license plate as well as the date, time and location of the violation. That information can be used as evidence in certain traffic violation proceedings.

School Bus Fatalities In Michigan

In 2024, the most recent year for which National Highway Traffic Administration data is available, 110 people died nationwide in school bus-related accidents, down 14 percent from 128 in 2023, according to the National Safety Council.

Four of those deaths were in Michigan, including two in the Detroit area. All four incidents happened during the daytime, according to the council.

Not all of the fatalities in 2024 were the result of a motorist’s failure to follow school bus stop arm laws. However, in most cases when children are injured or killed, it’s when the bus is stopped, the lights are flashing, and the stop arm is extended, according to safety experts.

Stop Arm Violations In Michigan

In its latest national survey taken in April 2026, the National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services estimated about 38.4 million illegal school-bus passings last school year. Rather than reflecting actual law enforcement citations, this number is a national projection derived from a single-day tally of motorists in 39 states who failed to stop for school buses.

More than 101,000 school bus drivers in 39 states and Washington, D.C., reported 56,024 illegal passings in a single day during the 2025-26 school year. Those drivers represented about 26 percent of the nation’s school bus drivers. NASDPTS extrapolated the results to an estimated 213,800 illegal passings per school day, or more than 38.4 million over an 180-day school year.

That estimate is down from 39.3 million in 2024-25 and 45.2 million in 2023-24, marking a second straight annual decline.

About 51 percent of the reported violations happened on afternoon routes, nearly 46 percent during morning routes, and about 3 percent at midday. Nearly 64 percent of vehicles passed from the front of the bus, while about 36 percent approached from behind.

Florida reported the most violations, followed by California, Georgia and Texas. Importantly, those state totals aren’t clean comparisons because participation varied, and the survey did not adjust for factors such as traffic volume, route mileage, number of stops or road type, according to the bus drivers’ group.

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