Every school bus driver has seen it: the red lights are flashing, the stop arm is out, a student is about to cross, and a car goes straight past. It's illegal in every state, and it's the moment drivers fear most. In the 2025 national survey by NASDPTS, drivers reported more than 67,000 illegal passings on a single school day, and the survey estimated about 39 million over the school year.
Drivers can't stop the car, but they can make sure it's reported properly. A good stop arm violation report gives the police, the school and, where your state allows, the camera program what they need to act. Here's what to write down, who gets it, and how to keep the record.
What the driver should write down
- The plate number and state, as much of it as they saw. Even a partial plate helps.
- The vehicle: colour, make, type (car, pickup, SUV), anything that stands out.
- The driver of the car, if they saw them.
- Date, time and exact place: the stop, the road, the nearest cross street or house number.
- Direction: coming toward the bus or from behind, and which side it passed on. Passing on the right, the door side, is the most dangerous.
- What the bus was doing: lights flashing, stop arm out, door open, students crossing or waiting.
- Students at risk: whether anyone had to step back or was nearly hit.
- Video: the bus number and the time, so the office can pull the camera footage before it's recorded over.
Tip: Drivers shouldn't write while the bus is stopped with students crossing. A quick note of the plate at the next safe stop, then the full report at the end of the run, is enough.
Who gets the report
| Who | Why |
|---|---|
| Dispatch, the same run | To pull the camera footage and decide whether to call the police |
| The police | Most states let them cite the owner or driver from a bus driver's report or the video |
| The school or district | Many districts track stop-arm passings by stop, and may ask the town for signs, a crossing guard or a different stop |
| The camera program, if there is one | Some states let districts use stop-arm cameras and send tickets to the vehicle's owner |
Good to know: Stop-arm laws, fines and camera programs differ from state to state, and so do the forms the police and district ask for. Use theirs where they ask, and keep your own copy with the video.
Making the stop safer
- Look for the same stop twice. Repeat passings at one stop usually mean a fast road, a hill or a bend.
- Ask the district to move or change the stop so students don't cross that road.
- Remind drivers of the procedure: check mirrors, use the eight-light system early, and hold students until traffic has stopped.
- Take part in your state's illegal passing count day, if it has one.
Doing it in FleetCommander
Reporting it. Drivers press Report an incident on My Day with their bus already chosen, and the office uses Report incident on Incidents. Choose Safety incident as the Type, and put the place in Location and the plate, the car and what happened in What happened?. Add the camera footage, a photo or the police paperwork, and the Police report number when there is one. Managers are told as soon as it's saved. See the Incidents guide.
Following it up. Each incident moves from Open to Under review to Closed, and shows on the bus's page. Searching Incidents for a road or stop shows how often it happens there, and the Incident trends report shows incidents by month. Ava (Beta), the assistant in the app, answers Any open incidents? or Incidents involving Bus 102. More on her page.
Related reading
Questions people ask
- What should a school bus driver write down when a car passes the stop arm?
- The plate and state, the vehicle's colour and type, the date, time and exact place, the direction and side it passed, what the bus was doing, whether students were at risk, and the bus number so the video can be pulled.
- Who do you report a stop arm violation to?
- Dispatch first, so the video is saved, then the police. The school or district and, where it exists, the stop-arm camera program usually get a copy too.
- Can a driver be ticketed from a bus driver's report?
- In many states, yes: the police can cite the owner or driver from the bus driver's report or the camera footage. The rules differ by state.
- How common are stop arm violations?
- Very. In the 2025 NASDPTS one-day survey, drivers reported more than 67,000 illegal passings, which the survey estimated at about 39 million over the school year.