A Third Ticket For Passing A Stopped School Bus Can Now Cost You Your License In Connecticut

Since October 1, 2026, Connecticut's Commissioner of Motor Vehicles must suspend a driver's license for six months, without a hearing, once the driver has a third or later violation of the school bus stopping law, § 14-279(a), that ended in a conviction, a forfeited bond, or a suspended judgment or sentence. The change comes from Public Act 26-95.

The act added one line to the DMV's list of mandatory suspensions in C.G.S. § 14-111(b)(1). If two school bus violations are already on your record, the next one could cost you your license. Our guide to the new Connecticut laws that took effect October 1, 2026 covers the other changes.

When You Have To Stop For A School Bus

When a registered school bus is displaying flashing red lights, C.G.S. § 14-279(a) generally requires you to stop at least 10 feet from it, whether you are coming toward the bus or following it, unless a traffic officer directs you otherwise. The rule covers any highway or private road, any parking area, and school property.

Flashing amber lights come first. Under C.G.S. § 14-277, the bus driver must turn them on at least 100 feet before stopping, so treat them as your warning to slow down and get ready to stop. Once you have stopped for the red lights, you stay stopped until the bus turns them off. At an intersection, you may not turn toward a school bus that is picking up or dropping off passengers.

Divided roads are the other exception. If the road has two or more lanes separated by a safety island or a physical barrier, and the bus is on the other side of it, you may keep going without stopping. Do not assume a painted line or a center turn lane is enough.

What Counts Toward Three School Bus Violations

The suspension applies only when a violation ends in one of the outcomes listed in § 14-111(b)(1): a conviction, a forfeited bond, or a suspended judgment or sentence. In plain terms, that includes being found guilty, pleading guilty or no contest, and letting the court keep bond money you posted instead of coming to court. A charge that is dismissed or that you win at trial does not count.

A ticket you pay by mail may still count. Under C.G.S. § 51-164n(c)(3), paying by mail is treated as a plea of nolo contendere, or no contest. That payment cannot be used in another case to prove what you did, but the same subsection says it does not affect sanctions the DMV commissioner is authorized to impose, and a license suspension is one of those sanctions.

Whether a camera ticket counts depends on which kind of camera system produced it.

• A $250 town ordinance citation does not count. A town may adopt an ordinance under C.G.S. § 14-279c for camera enforcement, with the citation mailed to the vehicle's owner. These violations are not made part of your driving record and cannot be used for auto insurance purposes, and according to the Office of Legislative Research summary, the new suspension does not apply to them.
• A summons from an older state monitoring system may count. These systems, under C.G.S. § 14-279a, are being phased out: none could start on or after July 1, 2024, and existing ones had to stop by July 1, 2026, apart from a narrow exception for some vendor contracts signed before July 1, 2024. Where one is still running, a police officer reviews the recording and may authorize a summons, mailed to the registered owner, for violating § 14-279 itself. Because that summons charges the state law, it may count if it ends in one of the outcomes above.

The act leaves two questions open. It does not say whether violations from before October 1, 2026 count toward the three, and it does not set a lookback period, such as a number of years after which an old violation drops out of the count. Until the DMV or a court answers those questions, do not count on an older violation being left out.

Fines, Jail Time, And Other DMV Consequences

The fines in § 14-279(b) did not change. A first violation carries a $450 fine, and the Judicial Branch's mail-in schedule effective October 1, 2026 lists a total of $475 if you pay by mail. A second or later violation carries a fine of $500 to $1,000, up to 30 days in jail, or both.

The six-month suspension comes on top of those penalties, and for anyone who drives to work, it can cost far more than the fine. Under C.G.S. § 14-37a, a suspended driver may apply to the DMV for a special operator's permit: a work permit to drive to and from work, or an education permit to drive to and from a college or private career school. The education permit is not available to high school students. The application fee is $100, and the commissioner may grant the permit only on a showing of significant hardship. It does not cover driving that requires a commercial driver's license, and it is not available to someone whose license was suspended before under Connecticut's OUI or test-refusal laws.

A school bus violation is also a "moving violation" for the DMV's operator retraining program under C.G.S. § 14-111g, so it counts along with speeding and other moving-violation convictions. The commissioner may order a driver 24 or younger with convictions on two or more occasions, or an older driver with convictions on three or more, into the program. It costs up to $85, and a driver who does not complete it can be suspended until they do.

If A Child Was Hurt Near A Stopped Bus

If a driver who did not stop for a school bus hits a child, the family may have a claim against that driver, and depending on the facts, against the bus company too.

In Josephson v. Meyers, 180 Conn. 302 (1980), a 15-year-old student got off a school bus on Saltonstall Parkway in East Haven on a January evening and was struck within seconds by a car passing the bus while its warning lights were flashing. The jury found the passing driver liable and awarded damages, and the Supreme Court upheld that verdict. The court described the school bus stopping law, together with § 14-277, the rule for how bus drivers stop and unload, as showing a legislative intent "to create a safety zone" within which children can safely cross the street after leaving a school bus.

In Connecticut, a driver who violates a safety law like the school bus stopping law may be found negligent on that basis alone, if the law was meant to protect people like the injured child from that kind of harm, the violation caused the injury, and the driver has no valid excuse. Lawyers call this negligence per se. For a family, that means evidence the driver passed a stopped bus with its red lights flashing can go a long way toward showing fault. An emergency the driver did not create may still count as an excuse.

Connecticut's jury instructions also say that a person must use greater care where children may reasonably be expected, and a child's own conduct is judged against what may reasonably be expected of children of similar age, judgment and experience. Connecticut's comparative negligence rule can reduce a recovery by the injured person's share of fault, and it bars recovery if that share is greater than the combined fault of the people they seek to recover from, including settled or released parties.

Under C.G.S. § 52-557c, school bus owners and operators are held to the same standard of care as common carriers of passengers for hire. The Connecticut Supreme Court has said that duty includes giving passengers a reasonably safe place to get off the bus. In Josephson, though, the jury found for the bus company and its driver. The Supreme Court agreed that the safe-place claim against them did not belong before the jury, because the bus driver had followed the route and the statutory stopping procedures and nothing unusual about the stop required more.

A few evidence points are specific to school bus cases:

• The stop-arm enforcement camera recording may not be usable. Recordings from a school bus monitoring system under § 14-279a, and from a town ordinance camera under § 14-279c, cannot be introduced as evidence in any other civil or criminal case, and the law requires those recordings to be destroyed on a set schedule, in some cases 90 days after the violation. Video from the bus's own safety cameras, a neighbor's doorbell camera or a business's security system may not have the same limits, so ask for it soon, before it is recorded over.
• A ticket paid by mail is not proof of fault. If the driver who hit your child pays the school bus ticket by mail, that payment cannot be used in a civil case to prove what the driver did. Our article on the new distracted-driving rules explains the same rule as it applies to phone tickets.
• The bus driver, other children, parents at the stop and other drivers who did stop may all have seen what happened.

A negligence lawsuit generally must be filed within two years from when the injury was or reasonably should have been discovered, and generally no more than three years after the act or omission complained of, though narrow exceptions can apply. That deadline generally applies to a child's claim too; Connecticut law does not pause it until the child turns 18. If either driver works for a town or board of education, shorter notice deadlines can apply, so talk with a lawyer early.

What To Do If You Get A School Bus Ticket

Do not pay a school bus ticket by reflex. Before you pay or plead, find out how many school bus violations are already on your record. You can request your driving history from the DMV online for $20. Paying is not your only option. Read the paperwork to see whether it is a summons under § 14-279 or a town ordinance citation. A summons explains how to plead not guilty, which sends the case to court. A town citation explains how to request a hearing instead.

Write down where you were, which way the bus was facing, whether the road was divided by an island or barrier, when you first saw the lights, and whether they were amber or red when you passed. If you can, go back and photograph the spot, including any island or barrier.

If you have been charged with passing a stopped school bus and are worried about your license, our criminal defense attorneys can review the charge and your record. If your child was hurt by a driver who did not stop, our personal injury attorneys can explain your options. Contact our office for a free consultation.