Guest Post  MassDOT, MAPFRE Insurance Reminder: Back to School Safety

BOSTON — Fall officially starts on September 22nd, but the unofficial start is seeing the big yellow school buses on Massachusetts roads. Over 900,000 K-12 students are gearing up for another school year. Additional cars, buses, and bikes will be on our roadways, and there will be many more pedestrians at every crosswalk.  

If your commute includes passing by schools or bus stops, be aware of your responsibility for the safety of students. Be cautious whenever you see a school bus, especially at the beginning of the school year, as students and bus drivers get familiar with new routines. Expect pedestrians in crosswalks when approaching school zones and be prepared to stop. 

School buses transport approximately 400,000 Massachusetts students annually. Students are at risk near the bus and while crossing streets to board. Give students space and expect them to cross the road. It is important to follow the law and stop when approaching a yellow school bus, alternate vehicle, or van displaying a “SCHOOL BUS” sign with flashing signals. Failing to stop can result in a $250 fine for any violation, and repeat offenders can be fined even more and risk having their license suspended. 

If a school bus or pupil transport vehicle has red lights flashing and a stop sign extended, you must come to a complete stop. It is the law. It does not matter which side of the road you are traveling on. Remain stopped until the lights stop flashing or the stop sign folds back. The only exception to this law is if a school bus has stopped on the other side of a divided highway with a solid barrier between travel directions. In this case, you do not have to stop. 

Remember to: 

• Stop immediately when a school bus activates its red flashing lights and extends its stop sign.
• Remain stopped until the red lights stop flashing and the stop sign is retracted.
• Stop even if you are driving on the opposite side of the road, unless specific exceptions apply. 

In January 2025, Governor Maura Healey signed a bill that allows the use of video monitoring systems for school bus traffic violations. It allows cities and towns to use cameras on school buses to record motor vehicles that fail to stop for a school bus. The law is intended to improve compliance with school bus safety laws and better protect students who ride buses. Increased enforcement is coming, so familiarize yourself with the requirement to stop for school buses and help reduce injuries and crashes this back-to-school season.  

The MAPFRE Insurance-sponsored MassDOT Highway Assistance Program is on patrol to help all motorists, including motorcyclists, on the highways. Patrol operators monitor some of the state’s busiest highways around Metro Boston, Worcester, Springfield, and Cape Cod (seasonal). The Highway Assistance Patrol covers 13 major state roadways and interstates, the Emergency Service Patrol covers the Mass Pike (I-90) from New York to Boston and the Incident Response Operators cover the Metropolitan Highway System and tunnels. The Highway Assistance Patrol is in service Monday–Friday between 6 a.m.–10 a.m. and 3 p.m.–7 p.m. During holidays, there are extended routes in heavy-traffic areas. On I-90, and in Boston’s tunnel system, assistance is provided 24 hours per day, 7 days a week. 

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Your friends at MAPFRE Insurance