In Florida, you must stop for a school bus any time its red lights are flashing and its stop arm is extended, whether you are behind the bus or approaching from the opposite direction. The only exception is a divided highway: if a raised median, a physical barrier, or an unpaved space of at least five feet separates your lanes from the bus, oncoming traffic does not have to stop. Everyone else does, and the fines start at $265.
The Default Rule Applies to Every Direction
When a school bus activates its stop signal, you stop and stay stopped until the signal is withdrawn. This covers two-lane roads, multi-lane roads without a divider, residential streets, and anywhere else a bus is loading or unloading children. Being behind the bus or across from it makes no difference.1Justia. Florida Statutes 316.172 (2025) – Traffic to Stop for School Bus
Florida law separates two kinds of violation. Failing to stop is one offense. Passing the bus on the side where children get on and off is a separate, more serious offense that carries a higher fine and a mandatory court hearing.1Justia. Florida Statutes 316.172 (2025) – Traffic to Stop for School Bus
The One Exception: Divided Highways
You are excused from stopping only when you are traveling in the opposite direction of the bus on a divided highway. A road counts as “divided” under Florida law if it has an unpaved space of at least five feet between the opposing lanes, a raised median, or a physical barrier.1Justia. Florida Statutes 316.172 (2025) – Traffic to Stop for School Bus
Two things to keep straight. First, traffic moving in the same direction as the bus still has to stop, even on a divided highway. Second, a painted median or center turn lane does not qualify. If there is no raised barrier, physical structure, or unpaved gap of at least five feet between you and the bus, you stop.
What the Yellow and Red Lights Mean
School buses use a two-stage warning. Flashing yellow lights come on first, signaling that the bus is slowing down and preparing to stop. When you see yellow, slow down and get ready to stop.2National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Reducing the Illegal Passing of School Buses
Flashing red lights and a deployed stop arm mean children are actively boarding or exiting. At that point you must already be stopped, and you cannot move again until the red lights turn off and the arm retracts.1Justia. Florida Statutes 316.172 (2025) – Traffic to Stop for School Bus
Fines and Points
Failing to stop for a school bus carries a minimum fine of $200 plus a $65 surcharge that funds the Emergency Medical Services Trust Fund. That is $265 minimum, with four points on your driving record.3Florida Senate. Chapter 318 Section 18 – 2025 Florida Statutes
Passing on the side where children enter and exit is treated more harshly. The minimum fine jumps to $400 plus the $65 surcharge, for a total of at least $465. You cannot simply pay this ticket. A court hearing is mandatory.3Florida Senate. Chapter 318 Section 18 – 2025 Florida Statutes4Florida Legislature. Florida Statutes 318.19
Both violations add four points to your license.5Florida Senate. Chapter 322 Section 27 – Florida Statutes
A Second Offense Within Five Years Suspends Your License
A second school bus violation within five years is where things change. Florida law requires the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles to suspend the driver’s license for no less than 360 days and up to two years. The suspension applies to either type of violation, and it is mandatory once the second conviction is recorded.3Florida Senate. Chapter 318 Section 18 – 2025 Florida Statutes
Drivers often pay the first ticket and forget it. The clock keeps running. A second offense within five years is not another ticket; it is a year or more without a license.
If a Child Is Hurt or Killed: The Cameron Mayhew Act
Florida raised the stakes in 2017 with the Cameron Mayhew Act, named after a student killed by a driver who failed to stop for his school bus. If illegally passing a school bus causes serious bodily injury or death, the penalties escalate well beyond a standard traffic fine:
- A $1,500 fine
- 120 hours of community service, served specifically in a trauma center or hospital
- A minimum one-year license suspension
- Six points on your license instead of four
- Participation in a victim’s impact panel session, or a state-approved driver improvement course if no panel is available
The trauma-center requirement is deliberate. Legislators wanted the penalty to confront the driver with the real consequences of these injuries.6Florida Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. School Bus Safety
Stop-Arm Camera Tickets Arrive in the Mail
Florida authorizes school districts to install camera systems on buses that automatically record vehicles passing while the stop signal is active. The system captures video, images, and your license plate.7Florida Legislature. Florida Statutes 316.173
A camera-detected violation carries a $200 civil penalty plus a $25 surcharge, lower than an officer-issued citation. You will receive a notice of violation in the mail with 60 days to pay or contest it. Ignore the notice and it escalates to a uniform traffic citation with higher consequences.3Florida Senate. Chapter 318 Section 18 – 2025 Florida Statutes