Minnesota tightens school-bus stop law, affecting St. Louis County drivers

The loophole that let some drivers edge past a school bus before the stop arm fully extended closed immediately, and motorists who keep rolling when red lights are flashing can now be ticketed $500. In St. Louis County, that changes every school run from Duluth and Hermantown to Cloquet and Virginia, where a split-second judgment call can now turn into an enforcement stop.

What changed today: if a school bus has flashing red lights, drivers must stop at least 20 feet away whether the stop arm is out or not. They must stay stopped until the arm retracts and the red lights go off. Flashing amber lights are now the warning that red lights are about to come on.

The Minnesota Department of Public Safety said the fix was aimed at removing the ambiguity that had allowed some drivers to claim the bus was not yet fully stopped. Officials said Minnesota school buses make at least 10,000 trips every day, a scale that makes even a small gap in the law a serious safety problem. In a 2025 survey, officials recorded 514 stop-arm violations in a single day. About 8,000 buses have been outfitted with cameras, and those cameras helped produce 2,063 citations in 2025.

Lawmakers moved after a Minnesota Court of Appeals ruling in September 2025 said the word “extended” meant the stop-signal arm had to be fully stretched out before the stop requirement applied. That ruling opened the legal gap the Legislature moved to close. The Minnesota Senate unanimously approved the fix on March 9, and Sen. Ann Johnson Stewart said the bill was “for all Minnesota school students.” The updated language also makes the amber lights part of a clearer sequence so drivers know red lights are next.

Gov. Tim Walz signed the bill into law, and it took effect immediately. The Minnesota State Patrol and other traffic-safety officials have framed the change as a child-safety measure as much as an enforcement tool, since drivers cannot always see everything from behind the wheel and children can step into traffic without warning. For St. Louis County motorists, the rule is now simple and unforgiving: when the red lights are flashing, stop 20 feet away and wait.