By Associated Press
Undated, AL – A new law that takes effect Sunday will impose stiffer penalties on drivers who pass stopped school buses. Under the law, drivers committing the crime face felony charges and fines of up to three-thousand dollars for the fourth offense and can have their license suspended for a year. The law makes fines the same across the state instead of the previously different rates for city and county violations. The old law also mandated fines of up to 100 dollars or up to 10 days in jail for the first offense. First offenders can now be fined 150 to 300 dollars, while second offenders face a fine of 300 to 500 dollars, a 30-day license suspension and 100 hours of community service. Penalties for the third offense are a fine of 500 to one-thousand dollars, a 90-day license suspension and 200 hours of community service. In Alabama, passing motorists have killed four children and injured seven others since 1998.