The Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) and BusPatrol has this month released a 50-state action plan to stop vehicles illegally passing school buses.
A total of 1,279 children have been killed in the 10-foot “danger zone” around school buses over the past five decades, the organization said.
A National Action Plan for School Bus Safety is the first-ever national roadmap which aims to protect the 20 million children who rely on the nation’s 500,000 school buses every day.
According to the GHSA, drivers in the United States illegally pass school bus stop-arms approximately 39 million times each year.
To address this, the action plan includes 69 specific recommendations for State Highway Safety Offices (SHSOs), law enforcement, educators, school districts, bus drivers, the private sector, autonomous vehicle providers, roadway safety advocates and the judiciary.
The recommendations were informed by the expert panel discussions and audience feedback during the inaugural National School Bus Safety Summit. That event, held in December 2025 by BusPatrol with support from GHSA and Safe Kids Worldwide, convened nearly 500 experts, including federal and state officials, law enforcement, and myriad roadway and child safety organizations.
“Illegal and deadly school bus passings are 100% preventable,” said GHSA Chief Executive Officer Jonathan Adkins.
“We must create a new national dialogue and assemble innovative partner networks. This action plan moves us past isolated efforts toward a coordinated national strategy, utilizing a Safe System approach to ensure that every child’s journey to and from school is defined by safety, not fear.”
