Death Zone: What IL Law Says About Passing A Stopped School Bus

ILLINOIS — Classes are now in session around Illinois as a new school year gets under way. That means drivers need to remember to follow a few rules of the road that have had the summer off along with students in the state. Forgetting those rules — and being caught doing so — could carry stiff penalties for motorists or, even worse, cause a serious accident.

Last fall was a deadly one for students traveling to school by bus. During a one-week period, five children were killed and six were injured in five separate incidents across the country.

When it comes to buses, school zones and safety, some of the biggest concerns happen when cars and buses aren't even moving. Kids run the greatest risk of being hurt when they're standing at the bus stop, according to the Illinois State Board of Education. In fact, most children between the ages of 5 and 7 are injured or killed while they're getting on and off the bus, and they enter an area the board of education has ominously labeled the "Death Zone."

Here's what you need to know — and what you should do — when you see a bus stopped with its flashing lights and extended stop-sign arm, or you are driving by a school.

Passing a Stopped School Bus

The Law: In Illinois, all lanes of traffic in both directions must stop when a school bus is stopped to pick up or drop off kids while traveling along a two-lane road. This also applies to one-way streets no matter how many lanes of traffic.

On a four-lane road with at least two lanes moving in the opposite direction, only motorists going in the same direction as the bus are required to stop.

Drivers also should stop at least 20 feet from the bus when they see the bus' flashing lights and stop sign arm extended in order to let students cross the road safely.

School bus drivers also can report the license plate numbers of vehicles that illegally pass them to police. Under state law, the vehicle's owner must tell authorities who was driving at the time of the infraction or face the charges themselves, according to the Illinois State Police.

The Penalty: First-time offenders can look forward to having their driver's license suspended for three months, and recidivists who are convicted a second time within five years could have their license suspended for a year. Offenders also can face fines of $150 for the first conviction and $500 for subsequent offenses.

Speeding in a School Zone

The Law: Under state law, the speed limit for all school zones is 20 mph, regardless of what the speed is for the road the school is on. But that limit — which must be posted near the school — is only in effect from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. on days school is in session.

Speeding isn't the only thing prohibited in a school zone, either. Motorists are not allowed to pass while in a school zone, and pedestrians have the right-of-way in a school zone crosswalk.

The Penalty: In most cases, speeding in a school zone is petty offense. That means it's punishable by a minimum fine of $150 for the first offense and $300 for further infractions. Motorists also must pay $50 to the school district where the speeding violation happened.

Even though speeding in a school zone is punishable by a fine, offenders can't simply mail in a money order and be done with it. Ticketed drivers must appear in court.

The state also has created special sanctions for school zone-speeding cases that involve injuries or death. Under "Jeff's Law," which was passed in 2007, a driver is considered to have been driving recklessly if he or she was speeding in a school zone and someone was hurt or killed. Another decade-old law stipulates that a driver in any school zone crash that causes great bodily harm to a child or a crossing guard can be fined up to $25,000 and face possible jail time.

School Bus Tragedies

Multiple school bus-related tragedies prompted a petition on whitehouse.gov in 2018 calling for Congress and President Donald Trump to pass and sign legislation setting "severe penalties" for those who violate school bus safety laws.

Although every state already has a law on school bus safety, and many call for harsher penalties if a collision is involved, there is no federal standard that sets forth penalties for drivers who violate the law. The petition failed to garner enough signatures.

Last October, three Indiana siblings were killed and another child was hurt after a woman drove around a stopped school bus. Police said the stop arm on the bus was extended and exterior lights were flashing at the stop, and the children were hit as they crossed the road to board the bus.

A day later, a 9-year-old boy in Mississippi was killed while crossing a highway to catch the school bus.

On the same day, a kindergarten student in Tallahassee, Florida, was injured when he was struck by a car while crossing the street to board his school bus. The bus had extended the crossing arm, and the driver of the vehicle told police he realized too late that the bus had stopped. On Nov. 1, five children were injured while waiting for the bus in Tampa, Florida. Two adults were also hurt when a vehicle heading eastbound hit the group. Witnesses said the driver of the vehicle had been speeding before the crash.

Also that day, a second-grade student was killed at a bus stop in a hit-and-run accident in Pennsylvania. The boy was already dead when the bus driver pulled up to the stop and called 911.