GEORGIA, — This week, Governor Brian Kemp signed Addy’s Law, a bill that quadruples Georgia’s minimum fines for motorists who illegally pass school buses.
For generations, school buses have had a special place in state law. When school buses stop to board or release children, school bus drivers activate flashing lights that signal other motorists to stop. In most cases, if they don’t stop, they’re breaking the law.
Passed three weeks before adjourning for the year, Addy’s Law will fine motorists who violate it $1,000.
THE QUESTION
A viewer has asked our Verify team if this would make Georgia’s minimum fine for this the highest in America.
THE SOURCES
- Government and legal websites from all 50 states (Full list at the end of article)
- Justia.com
- AARP
THE ANSWER
The short answer is yes.
WHAT WE FOUND
To find out if it's the strictest in the U.S., we looked up school bus laws in all fifty states, using government and legal websites from California to Maine and Florida. The sites are at the end of this article.
When Georgia enacts Addy’s law, its thousand-dollar fine will be tied to the country's largest minimum fine.
Utah’s legislature also passed a bill to increase the minimum fine to a thousand dollars this year. It takes effect in May, and Georgia's law will take effect July 1.
So, to be more specific, Addy’s Law would put Georgia among the two states with the highest minimum fines for passing a school bus with its lights on.
And Georgia’s law also applies to those fines that can be levied based just on evidence from school bus cameras – another reason to be very careful driving around school buses.
Hover over states or use the search function to view its school bus law minimums across the county; click here to see a bigger version of the map
FULL SOURCE LIST
- Alabama
- Alaska
- Arizona
- Arkansas and here
- California
- Colorado and here
- Connecticut and here
- Delaware
- Florida (section 5) and here
- Georgia
- Hawaii
- Idaho
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Illinois
- Kansas and here
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Maine
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- Minnesota
- Missouri
- Michigan
- Mississippi
- Montana and here
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- New York
- New Mexico
- North Carolina
- North Dakota
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Oregon and here
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
- South Carolina
- South Dakota
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Utah
- Virginia
- Vermont and here
- Washington
- Wisconsin
- West Virginia
- Wyoming and here