SB 65 | Increased penalties for overtaking a school bus

Session: 2025-2026

ACLU-PA Position: Opposes

SB 65 (PN 486) would increase fines and enhance penalties for repeat violations related to school bus safety. While the intent to protect children is laudable, the evidence shows that increasing penalties will not improve compliance or safety. Current penalties are already severe, including substantial fines and mandatory license suspensions.

Research demonstrates that what changes driver behavior is the likelihood of being caught, not the size of the penalty. Interestingly, data from the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts (AOPC) actually shows that the amount of citations for overtaking a school bus has been decreasing as compared to previous years. Compare the data from 2018-2022 and data from 2020-2024.

Research consistently shows that harsher penalties have little deterrent effect on traffic safety violations:

• Perception of risk, not penalty size, drives behavior. Most drivers who pass a school bus or speed in a school zone do not expect to be caught. When the perceived likelihood of enforcement is low, even very high fines fail to influence behavior.
• Current penalties are already steep. Because violations already carry significant fines and mandatory license suspensions, additional penalties have diminishing returns.
• Financial strain undermines compliance. Larger fines don’t make people safer; they increase the likelihood that individuals—especially younger drivers or low-income drivers—will default on payments, leading to long-term license loss and debt without addressing the underlying conduct. This point is particularly salient considering more than 30% of people cited for that traffic offense are under the age of 29, according to the data from AOPC. It's more likely that they will not be able to pay the fines or may fail to respond to the citation, which begins a never ending cycle of fines and license suspensions.

Rather than escalating fines, lawmakers could pursue proven strategies to reduce school zone violations and keep children safe, such as targeted enforcement, better infrastructure, and public education—approaches that prevent violations before they happen, such as those that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) suggests in its best practice guide, “Reducing the Illegal Passing of School Buses.” Importantly, NHTSA’s guide also acknowledges that increasing compliance enforcement visibility matters more than penalty size. When drivers know they’re likely to be caught, they’re more likely to comply—and that makes a meaningful difference, far more than just raising penalties.

While we acknowledge that the bill was amended to include a driver education component, that would not be sufficient to change our position or overcome the negative impact of increased fines and penalties.