The Alpena County Sheriff’s Office would like to remind residents about the importance for stopping for school buses displaying red flashing lights. Over the past few weeks, Alpena County Sheriff Deputies have been dispatched to multiple calls of vehicles running school bus red lights.
MCL 257.682 states the operator of a vehicle overtaking or meeting a school bus that has stopped and is displaying 2 alternately flashing red lights shall bring the vehicle to a full stop no less than 20 feet from the school bus. The vehicle can not proceed until the school bus resumes motion or the visual signals are no longer activated.
The law also states that in a proceeding for a violation of this section, proof that the particular vehicle described in the citation was in violation of the section, together with proof that the defendant named in the citation was, at the time of the violation, the registered owner of the vehicle. This constitutes a rebuttable presumption that the registered owner of the vehicle was the driver of the vehicle at the time of the violation.
Violation of this section is a civil infraction and a fine up to $500. The driver can also be order to perform up to 100 hours of community service at a school.