Changes Violation Driver Overtaking School Bus

Section 1 of the bill permits the state, a county, a city and county, or a municipality to, with approval from a school district's board of education, install and utilize automated vehicle identification systems (AVIS) on the school district's school buses to detect a driver of a vehicle that overtakes a stopped school bus with actuated visual signal lights in violation of current law. If an AVIS detects such a violation, the state, a county, a city and county, or a municipality may impose a civil penalty of not more than $300 for the violation. The bill creates a rebuttable presumption that when an image produced by an AVIS includes an electronic indicator signifying that a school bus's visual signal lights are actuated, the visual signal lights are presumed to be actuated and operational and the school bus is presumed to be stopped to receive or discharge school children . This usage of AVIS is excepted from the typical signage requirements imposed by current law on stationary AVIS.

The bill mandates that the state, a county, a city and county, or a municipality that installs an AVIS on a school bus shall not use the fines collected through the use of the AVIS system to compensate as the basis for the compensation to the AVIS manufacturer or vendor and that any such compensation paid to the manufacturer or vendor must not be based exclusively upon the number of citations issued or revenue generated by the AVIS.

Current law states that a driver on a highway with separate roadways need not stop upon meeting or passing a school bus that is on a different roadway. Section 2 amends the definition of "highway with separate roadways" to include a roadway separated by physical barriers and to exclude a roadway separated by a painted median.

(Note: Italicized words indicate new material added to the original summary; dashes through words indicate deletions from the original summary.)

(Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)