This story is part of WTOP’s 2026 Back to School coverage.
With schools across Maryland reopening this week and next, transportation officials are reminding drivers to take care around school buses.
“It’s important for all motorists to be alert and be aware of school buses, crossings and bus stops,” Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich told reporters at his weekly briefing.
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Chrissy Nizer, the head of the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration, told WTOP that drivers will want to heed the school buses’ flashing red lights and stop arms as the buses pick up and drop off children.
For those traveling behind the bus, that means leaving a 20-foot buffer between the stopped vehicles.
Nizer said most people know that if they’re traveling in the same direction as a school bus, they are required by law to stop. But that extends to multilane roadways, too.
Even if you’re on a roadway with three or more lanes, “You must always stop. It doesn’t matter which lane you are in, it doesn’t mean what you’re prepared to do, you must stop at that point,” she said.
Drivers must also stop when they see a school bus approaching in the opposite direction and the stop arm deployed, unless there is a median dividing the roadway.
“A grass median, there’s a concrete barrier, or a guardrail. If they’re not one of those things, you must stop,” Nizer said.
Drivers who try to pass stopped school buses are subject to fines. Those who get an automated citation face civil fines of $250. Drivers who are stopped by law enforcement could find themselves facing a $570 ticket and three points on their driver’s license.
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