Legal Focus

There are several regulations that govern the transportation of students to and from school, including the general requirements of school buses (75 PA C S 4552), equipment and safety requirements for school buses (67 PA Code 171), and general requirements for other vehicles transporting school children (75 PA C S 4553). All school bus contractors must comply with these regulations as well as others. However, a recent case (CBM Ministries of S Cent Pa, Inc. v Pa DOT) implies that these requiremen...

School Boards are responsible for making decisions about bus stop locations and student walking routes, but they often delegate these duties to their contractors. Some bus stop locations and walking routes are easy to evaluate, but some may be more complicated and require assistance to make a determination about safety issues. Fortunately, Pennsylvania law, 67 Pa. Code 447.1, provides guidelines for determining if a walking route is safe, and a PennDOT Traffic Unit that is available to assist in...