09/11/2026
With some schools in the area already in session and the remainder of them starting next week and school busses taking to the streets, we want to remind everyone of some safety tips when traveling during the school day.
1. MN law requires drivers to stop within 20 feet of a school bus with its red lights and stop arm extended and vehicles need to remain stopped until the red lights and arms have been de-activated. When you see the amber lights flashing, please begin allowing the bus distance as it indicates the bus is about to load/unload students. Passing on the right side of the bus while red lights are flashing is an arrestable offense. Please help keep our children safe by slowing down and being patient around school busses.
2. MN law requires drivers to stop for pedestrians that are at a marked cross-walk or non-marked intersection, and remain stopped until the pedestrian has passed the lane. Pedestrians shall not dart into traffic where a vehicle cannot reasonably stop.
3. The speed limit in a school zone when children are present is 20mph!
4. Put cell-phones away. It is unlawful to have a cell-phone in your hand while operating a vehicle, this includes while stopped in traffic. Those with a provisional license are not allowed to make ANY calls even in hands free mode.
5. Students should be using the crosswalks to cross to the other side of the street - do not cross between vehicles, this is very unsafe.
Parents, please share this information with your children, yes even the cool kids in High School.
Help keep our children safe by slowing down, putting distractions away, and reporting unsafe driving behavior.
169.21 PEDESTRIAN.
Subdivision 1.Obey traffic-control signals. Pedestrians shall be subject to traffic-control signals at intersections as heretofore declared in this chapter, but at all other places pedestrians shall be accorded the privileges and shall be subject to the restrictions stated in this section and section 169.22.
§Subd. 2.Rights in absence of signal. (a) Where traffic-control signals are not in place or in operation, the driver of a vehicle shall stop to yield the right-of-way to a pedestrian crossing the roadway within a marked crosswalk or at an intersection with no marked crosswalk. The driver must remain stopped until the pedestrian has passed the lane in which the vehicle is stopped. No pedestrian shall suddenly leave a curb or other place of safety and walk or run into the path of a vehicle which is so close that it is impossible for the driver to yield. This provision shall not apply under the conditions as otherwise provided in this subdivision.
(b) When any vehicle is stopped at a marked crosswalk or at an intersection with no marked crosswalk to permit a pedestrian to cross the roadway, the driver of any other vehicle approaching from the rear shall not overtake and pass the stopped vehicle.
169.444 SAFETY OF SCHOOL CHILDREN; DUTIES OF OTHER DRIVERS.
§Subdivision 1.Children getting on or off school bus. When a school bus is stopped on a street or highway, or other location where signs have been erected under section 169.443, subdivision 2, paragraph (b), and is displaying an extended stop-signal arm and flashing red lights, the driver of a vehicle approaching the bus shall stop the vehicle at least 20 feet away from the bus. The vehicle driver shall not allow the vehicle to move until the school bus stop-signal arm is retracted and the red lights are no longer flashing.
Subd. 1a.Passing on right. No person may pass or attempt to pass a school bus in a motor vehicle on the right-hand, passenger-door side of the bus when the school bus is displaying the prewarning flashing amber signals as required in section 169.443, subdivision 1.
Subd. 2.Violations by drivers; penalties. (a) A person who fails to stop a vehicle or to keep it stopped, as required in subdivision 1, or who violates subdivision 1a, is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not less than $500.
(b) A person is guilty of a gross misdemeanor if the person fails to stop a motor vehicle or to keep it stopped, as required in subdivision 1, or who violates subdivision 1a, and commits either or both of the following acts:(1) passes or attempts to pass the school bus in a motor vehicle on the right-hand, passenger-door side of the bus; or
(2) passes or attempts to pass the school bus in a motor vehicle when a school child is outside of and on the street or highway used by the school bus or on the adjacent sidewalk.
Subd. 2.Prohibition on use; penalty. (a) Except as provided in subdivision 3, when a motor vehicle is in motion or a part of traffic, the person operating the vehicle upon a street or highway is prohibited from:
(1) holding a wireless communications device with one or both hands; or
(2) using a wireless communications device to:
(i) initiate, compose, send, retrieve, or read an electronic message;
(ii) engage in a cellular phone call, including initiating a call, talking or listening, and participating in video calling; and (iii) access the following types of content stored on the device: video content, audio content, images, games, or software applications.
(b) A person who violates paragraph (a) a second or subsequent time must pay a fine of $275.
