Fail to Stop for School Bus

The law for stopping for school buses is within the Highway Traffic Act section 175,11.

In traffic court prosecutors and judges treat school bus tickets very seriously.  The prosecutors and courts believe that drivers who fail to stop for school buses are putting children at risk.

Drivers will find court prosecutors do not want to drop the charge or reduce the charge and most disputed cases will go to trial.

The Highway Traffic Act says:

Every driver or street car operator, when meeting a school bus that has its overhead red signal-lights flashing, on a roadway, other than a roadway with a median strip meeting

• shall stop before reaching the bus, and
• shall not proceed until the bus moves or
• the overhead red signal-lights have stopped flashing.

School bus tickets are one of the most disputed traffic tickets in court.

Prosecutors have been instructed not to drop tickets and most cases will go to trial. Qualified legal representation is strongly recommended.

At trial the prosecution has to prove essential elements of the charge such as:

• was the stop sign activated
• was the bus stopped properly
• is a school purposes bus involved
• were the red lights activated and visible
• was there a clear and unobstructed view
• were the occupants children

At trial these elements and others must be proved by the prosecution.

During the trial the police officer must be cross-examined, legal issues argued and any motions presented.  Read more about trials for traffic tickets >