School Bus Violations Mount In Cheltenham

CHELTENHAM TOWNSHIP, PA — At the start of every school year, every school district and the police department that covers it warns drivers about passing stopped school buses that are picking up children.

For the Cheltenham School District, these violations have remained an issue for several years since police enforcement began and are off to a strong start already this year.

Since the new 2026-2027 school year started, the police department has reported 287 school bus violations, according to a tally of police activity statistics the Cheltenham Township Police Department reports each week.

Of those 287 violations, police issued 122 citations in one week.

During the first week of the school year, there were 32 school bus violations.

For the week of Sept. 13-19, police reported 37 violations followed by 122 violations for the week of Sept. 20-26.

The past two weeks produced 46 and 50 school bus violations respectively.

Cheltenham Police said that they would enforce school zones and school bus violations township-wide throughout the entire school year.

Since October 2023, Cheltenham's Bus Patrol camera system, installed on the entire school bus fleet, has issued over 5,400 school bus violations.

Last school year, there were nearly 2,700 school bus violations.

The system automatically records when a driver passes a bus with red lights and stop arm out. Fines are $300 per violation under state law.