The state law prohibits drivers in both directions from passing a stopped school or church bus with a visual signal activated while loading or unloading passengers on any roadway, with one exception.
Drivers traveling in the opposite direction of a stopped school or church bus on a divided highway with at least four lanes and a median that is not used by pedestrians do not need to stop.
Once stopped, drivers may not proceed until a bus is in motion, a bus driver signals they can go or the visual signal is no longer activated.
As of Monday, drivers caught passing or overtaking a school or church bus will face the following fines and punishments:
* First offense - $150 to $300 fine;
* Second offense - $300 to $500 fine, at least 100 hours of community service, driving privileges or drivers license suspended for 30 days;
* Third offense - $500 to $1,000 fine, at least 200 hours in community service, driving privileges or drivers license suspended 90 days;
* Fourth and subsequent offense - $1,000 to $3,000 fine, Class C felony charges, driving privileges or driver’s license revoked for a year.
An illegal passing survey conducted by the Alabama Department of Education in 2005 reported that in just one day 1,862 illegal passes of school buses were documented.
The school bus safety bill, sponsored by Sen. Ted Little, D-Auburn, in the Senate and by Rep. Randy Davis, R-Mobile, in the House, was first introduced in the House in 2005 and passed both houses in April 2006.
Little was the chief sponsor of the 2006 bill. He said his interest in the bill was based on the fact that 11 children in Alabama had been injured or killed since 1998 by motorists who illegally passed a stopped school bus.
One of those children was 6-year-old Maegan Ptomey, a Yarbrough Elementary School student who was hit and killed in 2000 after a motorist illegally passed a stopped school bus on Rustic Ridge Road in Auburn.
Little said school buses should receive the same respect from drivers that is given to ambulances.
"We have had too many injured, and certainly too many deaths (of students), with motorists who did not give enough respect for the law, the school bus and for the blinking lights," Little said Monday.
Little added that the new law should make motorists more aware of driving safely around school buses, as well as give parents and children a greater peace of mind.