It may seem a simple concept. For Minnesota violators, you could get a $500 fine. Across the river, in Fargo, you’re looking at $250.
Both Moorhead and Fargo School buses have stop arm cameras to track down violators. In 2024, Moorhead received over $48,000 to get cameras for 66 of its buses.
“The owner of the vehicle is presumed to be the person, right? Unless you can prove otherwise, right? Let’s say parents are letting their high school students use their car, and it’s a high school student that blows through the stop arm. We’ll first go to the parent, and they’ll be like, ‘My kid was driving my car.’ Ok. Now we know we have to issue the citation to your kiddo,’” said Officer Andrea Noll.
Just like some of you probably learned in school: If you can’t see the driver, they can’t see you.
“I think one of the biggest things I see is just kids out in the community, some of them don’t pay attention. So it’s really big for people on the roadway to pay attention. Especially around that end of the school day type of thing. We have those zones set up in our elementary schools where it is 20 miles an hour.”
Valley News Live reached out to several area police departments to see the trends in their area:
- West Fargo Police: One violation since August 1st, 2025
- Moorhead Police: Data not yet available.
- Fargo Police: One warning for unlawful passing of a school bus (September 2024).
