The most dangerous part of a child's school bus ride is not the ride. It is the walk to the stop, the wait at the curb, and the crossing afterward, and it happens twice a day within a few hundred feet of home.
Clarke County buses are back on the road, and two things about Georgia law surprise almost every parent. The first is when you are actually required to stop for a bus, because the exception is far narrower than most drivers believe, and it changed in 2019. The second is what happens if a school district is involved, because Georgia school districts are not covered by the rules that apply to cities and counties, and the amount a family can recover can depend entirely on an insurance policy nobody has seen yet. This page covers both. At Hall & Collins Injury & Accident Lawyers, we handle child injury claims across Northeast Georgia.
When you have to stop, and the exception almost everyone gets wrong
Under O.C.G.A. 40-6-163(a), a driver meeting or overtaking a stopped school bus from either direction must stop before reaching the bus when the bus has its visual signals operating, and may not proceed until the bus resumes motion or the signals shut off.
The exception in subsection (b) is where the confusion lives. A driver need not stop where the highway has separate roadways separated by a grass median, an unpaved area, or a physical barrier, or on a controlled access highway where the bus is in a loading zone, and pedestrians are not permitted to cross.
Read those three items again, because a center turn lane is not one of them.
This is not a technicality, it is a reversal. In 2018 the General Assembly briefly broadened the exception to include a highway divided by a turn lane, which meant drivers on a typical five-lane road did not have to stop. In 2019 the legislature undid that, substituting the current language limiting the exception to a grass median, unpaved area or physical barrier. The Attorney General had reached the same conclusion under the earlier version of the statute: where lanes are separated only by a flush median or a two-way left turn lane, so that the parts of the highway are divided only by painted stripes, vehicles from both directions must stop.
The practical rule for an Athens driver: paint is not a divider. If you can drive across it, you stop.
What a violation costs
| How the violation is charged | Penalty | Points | Insurance effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Officer-issued citation, O.C.G.A. 40-6-163(a) | High and aggravated misdemeanor, fine of not less than $1,000, up to 12 months confinement, or both | 6 points | Yes, it is a conviction |
| Bus camera citation, O.C.G.A. 40-6-163(d) | $1,000 civil penalty against the vehicle owner | None. Not a conviction and not on the driving record | Not usable for insurance, except that a second violation in the same jurisdiction now requires the agency to notify the owner's insurer |
The criminal penalty and the $1,000 camera penalty both came from a 2024 amendment known as Addy's Law, effective July 1, 2024, which raised the camera penalty from $250 and added the high and aggravated misdemeanor language.
For a teenage driver the points matter more than the fine. Six points is above the four point threshold, and a driver under 18 who accumulates four or more points in any 12 month period faces license suspension under O.C.G.A. 40-5-57.1(b). A plea of nolo contendere counts as a conviction for that purpose.
On the camera citations, the owner of the vehicle is liable, and there is a rebuttable inference that the registered owner was the driver. That inference can be rebutted with a sworn statement naming the actual operator or a certified police report showing the vehicle had been reported stolen.
School zone speed cameras, and what changed this year
Georgia did not repeal school zone speed cameras, despite a great deal of reporting that suggested otherwise. The legislature re-regulated them, and a significant change is still coming.
The core mechanics under O.C.G.A. 40-14-18 are unchanged. Cameras may be used only on a school day, during instructional hours plus one hour before and one hour after, and a citation issues only at more than ten miles per hour over the applicable school zone limit. The penalty is $75 for a first violation and $125 for a second or subsequent one. There is a 30 day civil warning period when a device is first introduced in a zone.
Critically, and this is the question people actually search for: a school zone camera citation carries no points, is not a conviction, does not go on your driving record, and by statute cannot be used for insurance purposes.
What did change, effective July 1, 2026: the Department of Transportation is now the sole permitting agency and permits are awarded based on demonstrated need, no permit may issue for a four lane school zone that has no crosswalk, the electronic processing fee is capped at $10, no late fees may be charged, citations must carry plain language notices of the right to contest and of the registration hold, and the revenue may not be spent on law enforcement salaries.
Looking ahead, a new O.C.G.A. 40-14-19 takes effect July 1, 2027. From that date no Georgia city or county may enter into or renew a school zone camera contract unless voters approve it in a referendum asking whether the jurisdiction may use automated cameras to enforce speeding in school zones for the next six years. A jurisdiction whose voters say no cannot ask again for three years. Driver feedback radar signs showing your actual speed also become mandatory on that date.
When a child is hurt at or near a bus stop
There can be more than one responsible party, and they are governed by completely different rules.
The passing motorist
This is the primary defendant and the most straightforward one. Passing a stopped bus with its signals running is a criminal offense, there is no immunity, and the violation supplies a direct negligence theory.
The bus driver
Georgia imposes two specific statutory duties. Under O.C.G.A. 40-6-162 a driver must actuate the visual signals whenever, but only whenever, the bus is stopped to receive or discharge children, and must not actuate them at signalized intersections or in designated loading areas entirely off the roadway. Under O.C.G.A. 40-6-164, after stopping to let children off, it is unlawful for the driver to proceed until all children who need to cross the roadway have done so safely.
Individually, a public school bus driver will assert official immunity, which protects discretionary acts but not the negligent performance of ministerial ones. The duties in 40-6-164 read as about as ministerial as a duty gets, which is why the timing and sequence of what the driver did matters so much.
The school district, and why this is the hard part
Georgia school districts sit in an unusual position, and getting this wrong costs families real money.
They are expressly excluded from the Georgia Tort Claims Act. The Act's definition of "state" at O.C.G.A. 50-21-22(5) carves out school districts along with counties and municipalities, so the Act's caps, procedures and 12 month notice provision do not apply.
They are also excluded from the local government waiver statute. O.C.G.A. 36-92-2 waives immunity for negligent use of a covered motor vehicle at $500,000 per person and $700,000 per occurrence, but O.C.G.A. 36-92-1(4) defines local government entity to mean a county, municipal corporation or consolidated city-county government, and expressly says the term does not include a local school system. So that automatic floor does not reach a school district.
What is left is O.C.G.A. 33-24-51(b), which provides that where a political subdivision purchases liability insurance for the negligence of its officers and employees in an amount greater than the amount waived under 36-92-2, its governmental immunity is waived to the extent of the insurance purchased, and neither the entity nor the insurer may plead governmental immunity. The Georgia Court of Appeals held in 2015 that the school district exclusion in 36-92-2 does not extend to that second sentence, which is what keeps the door open at all.
The practical consequences are blunt. A school district's exposure is the amount of liability insurance it actually bought. A district that bought none is fully immune. Discovering the policy and any self insured retention is therefore one of the first steps in the case, not a detail for later.
Two further traps worth knowing. O.C.G.A. 20-2-1090 requires school boards to carry insurance for children riding buses, extended by a 2024 amendment to cover school related activities, but Georgia courts have held that this is accident insurance rather than liability insurance and that the section does not itself waive sovereign immunity. And the injury has to arise out of the use of a covered vehicle. In one Georgia case a child was killed at a bus stop before the bus had arrived, and the court held the bus was too remote from the accident as a matter of law for the injury to arise out of its use, so there was no waiver. Timing can decide the case.
A contracted private bus operator
A private company operating buses under contract is not a governmental entity, so ordinary negligence and employer liability apply without the immunity overlay. Where a district contracts out transportation, identifying the actual operator early can change the entire posture of a claim.
Deadlines, and one trap that catches families
No ante litem notice statute applies to a Georgia school district. The county statute has been held not to apply to school districts, and the municipal and state statutes reach different entities. That is not license to wait. The ordinary two year personal injury deadline in O.C.G.A. 9-3-33 still governs, subject to tolling for minors, and the practical advice is to give written notice anyway.
The trap is co-defendants. If a city, a county or a municipal department is also in the case, that defendant's own ante litem deadline applies, and it can be as short as six months. In 2025 the Supreme Court of Georgia held that the minor tolling statute does not toll the six month municipal ante litem deadline, meaning a child's claim against a city can expire at six months even though the child is a minor. Our guide to Georgia ante litem notice deadlines walks through what each notice must contain.
The Athens context
Two local factors shape these cases. Athens has a mix of five lane arterials with center turn lanes and narrow neighborhood streets, and the five lane roads are exactly where the stop-arm exception gets misapplied. And the corridors where children walk to stops overlap heavily with the roads that already generate the most pedestrian conflict, which we cover in our list of the most dangerous roads in Athens for drivers and pedestrians. Sight lines and turning conflicts matter too, and the factors that make an intersection hazardous are set out in our post on what makes intersections dangerous.
General pedestrian right of way rules, crosswalk duties and how those claims are proven are handled on our Athens pedestrian accident lawyer page rather than repeated here.
What to do if your child is hurt
- Get the bus number, route number and driver name. These identify which recordings and logs exist.
- Ask in writing for the bus video the same week. Onboard and stop-arm camera footage is routinely overwritten, often within a few weeks.
- Get the crash report and the responding agency. Note whether the officer cited anyone under 40-6-163.
- Photograph the stop itself. Lane configuration, whether there is a median or only a turn lane, sight lines, signage and where the child was standing.
- Write down the sequence while it is fresh. Whether the bus signals were on, whether the bus had stopped or was still moving, and where the child was when the bus began to move.
- Identify who employs the driver. The district or a contractor. It changes the immunity analysis entirely.
- Do not give a recorded statement to any insurer before you understand which defendants are in the case.
Frequently asked questions
Do I have to stop for a school bus if there is a center turn lane between us?
Yes. Under O.C.G.A. 40-6-163(b) the only exceptions are separate roadways divided by a grass median, an unpaved area or a physical barrier, and certain controlled access loading zones. A center turn lane or painted median does not qualify. The turn lane exception existed briefly in 2018 and was removed in 2019.
What is the penalty for passing a stopped school bus in Georgia?
An officer-issued citation is a high and aggravated misdemeanor carrying a fine of not less than $1,000, up to 12 months confinement, or both, plus six points. A camera-generated citation is a $1,000 civil penalty against the vehicle owner with no points and no conviction.
Do school zone speed camera tickets add points or raise insurance in Georgia?
No. O.C.G.A. 40-14-18 provides that the violation is not a moving violation for points purposes, is not a conviction, does not go on the operating record, and may not be used for insurance purposes.
Can you sue a Georgia school district after a bus accident?
Sometimes, but only to the extent of liability insurance the district actually purchased, and only where the injury arises out of the use of a covered vehicle. School districts are excluded from the Georgia Tort Claims Act and from the automatic local government waiver amounts.
How long do we have to bring a claim for an injured child?
The general personal injury deadline is two years under O.C.G.A. 9-3-33, with tolling available for minors. If a city or other government entity is a defendant, a much shorter ante litem notice deadline applies and the Supreme Court of Georgia has held that a child's minority does not extend the six month municipal deadline.
If your child was hurt at a bus stop or in a school zone, act this week
These cases are decided by evidence that is deleted on a schedule and by insurance policies that have to be pried loose through discovery. Both argue for moving early. We investigate the lane configuration, secure the bus and district footage, identify whether a contractor is involved and find out what coverage actually exists.
Contact Hall & Collins Injury & Accident Lawyers for a free and confidential consultation. There is no fee unless we recover for your family.
This article is general information about Georgia law and is not legal advice. Every case turns on its own facts. Reading this page does not create an attorney-client relationship.
