Bus-mounted cameras across Montgomery County are ready to catch drivers who blow past stopped school buses when 155,000 students return to class Tuesday, Aug. 25.

For families along routes serving Winston Churchill High School and Thomas S. Wootton High School, the rules are straightforward but the penalties sting: a camera-recorded violation means a $250 fine mailed to the vehicle's registered owner. Get pulled over by a police officer instead, and the ticket jumps to $570 with three points on your license.

The cameras don't blink.

County Executive Marc Elrich, a former Montgomery County Public Schools elementary teacher, urged caution at his Thursday, Aug. 20 media briefing.

"We have more than 155,000 students returning to our County's 211 schools, and we want all of them to get home safely," Elrich said.

What the law requires

Under Maryland law, drivers must stop at least 20 feet from a school bus when its red lights are flashing and the stop arm is extended, according to Montgomery Community Media. That applies in both directions. Drivers may not pass until the signals shut off and the bus moves again.

One exception: if a physical median or barrier separates your lanes from the bus, you are not required to stop.

The cameras are watching

Montgomery County partnered with camera vendor BusPatrol in 2017. As of April 2026, the program had issued more than 375,000 tickets totaling $92 million in fines countywide, Axios reported. Between fiscal years 2019 and 2024, the county collected about $18.5 million while BusPatrol took $40 million.

Despite the cameras, violation rates have barely budged, dropping from 36 citations per active camera in fiscal year 2020 to 34 in fiscal year 2024.

School zones and speed

Chrissy Nizer, head of the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration, told WTOP on Aug. 20 that drivers should heed flashing red lights and stop arms as buses pick up and drop off children, according to Bethesda Magazine.

Speeding in a school zone during school hours carries an extra point on your license beyond the base speeding penalty. Automated speed cameras in school zones issue civil fines but no license points because the state cannot prove who was driving.

Before Tuesday

Monday, Aug. 24 is Student Transition Day, a non-instructional day for students entering kindergarten, third grade at schools serving grades 3–5, sixth grade and ninth grade, plus all students new to a school. Buses will be running on neighborhood routes that day as well.

The full first day of classes for all MCPS students is Tuesday, Aug. 25.