When picking up or dropping off children, a school bus will turn on its warning lights and then its stop lights to let other drivers in the area know its time to stop. Additionally, a school bus will extend out a stop sign on its left side and a stop arm on the front of the vehicle. Since 2024, school buses in Santa Rosa County have been equipped with cameras to capture vehicles which fail to stop.
According to Santa Rosa County, 4,551 stop arm violations were recorded from the start of the 2024-25 school year (Aug. 12, 2024) and May 15, 2025. Of those violations, the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office, which works with the school district to enforce this traffic law, confirmed 4,038.
People are able to contest violations they believe were made in error. In Santa Rosa, 111 violations were contested and 45 were overturned. Approximately 57 were upheld. Nine violations are still pending, meaning they have yet to be resolved one way or another.
