Operation Safe Stop

The Lower Moreland Township Police Department will be participating in Operation Safe Stop on Wednesday, October 19, 2022 during National School Bus Safety Week. 

The purpose of Operation Safe Stop is to alert motorists of the dangers of passing stopped school buses loading or unloading students. Across Pennsylvania and the nation, stopped school buses, with red lights flashing and stop arms extended, are being passed on both the left and right sides as they are loading and unloading students. Each illegal pass of a stopped school bus is potentially a life-threatening situation for the 1.5 million students transported to and from school daily in Pennsylvania.

The Pennsylvania Vehicle Code (Title 75, Section 3345, Meeting or Overtaking School Bus) requires that “the driver of a vehicle meeting or overtaking any school bus stopped on a highway or trafficway shall stop at least ten feet before reaching the school bus when the red signal lights on the school bus are flashing and the side stop signal arms are activated under section 4552(b.1) (relating to general requirements for school buses).

The driver shall not proceed until the flashing red signal lights are no longer actuated. In no event shall a driver of a vehicle resume motion of the vehicle until the school children who may have alighted from the school bus have reached a place of safety.”