School Bus Safety Bill passes the Legislature

The Senate passes bill safeguarding school children by allowing school districts to add cameras on school buses

Special to The Advocate

  BOSTON – Monday, December 30, 2024 – This Monday, the Massachusetts Senate passed S.3005, An Act concerning the safety of school children embarking and disembarking school buses. The House passed their version of the bill earlier in the year.

The Senate bill added an amendment to accompany H.4940 that passed in July. The bill is an emergency law that allows, by a vote of a school committee, school districts to attach cameras to school buses to detect and ticket drivers who fail to stop for school buses. School children will have added protection for disembarking from their school buses by adding cameras and signage that dissuades drivers from making dangerous maneuvers. The bill adds detection monitoring systems to stop arm traffic signs on school buses to the apparatus safeguarding school age children getting off school buses.

Additionally, the bill ensures that drivers aren’t unfairly punished and has language to protect the drivers from frontal pictures of their vehicles that includes themselves or the contents of their vehicles. This bill is limited to detection of these violations.

“As a longtime advocate for school bus safety, I’m glad we were able to make a deal with the Senate,” said Representative Paul Donato (D-Medford). “I am proud to be the sponsor of this bill that will protect school children around the Commonwealth.”

According to the Department of Public Health and School Health Services, most school bus injuries are suffered by pedestrians who are boarding/exiting a bus. Children 4-7 are at the highest risk. Stated community goals for the Commonwealth are to “ensure adherence to bus related traffic laws” which the bill strives to do.

Having passed the Senate, the bill now heads to the Governor’s desk for her signature.