(a) As used in this section, "school bus" means:

(1) A motor vehicle designed to carry ten (10) or more passengers that is:

(A) Owned by a public or a governmental agency or a private school and operated for the transportation of students to or from school or school-sponsored activities; or

(B) Privately owned and operated for compensation for the transportation of students to or from school or school-sponsored activities; and

(2) A motor vehicle designed to carry more than twenty-five (25) passengers is exempt from this section if the motor vehicle is:

(A) Owned by a public or a governmental agency or a private school and operated for the transportation of students to or from school-sponsored activities but not used to transport students on any scheduled school bus route; or

(B) Privately owned and operated for compensation under contract to a school district and used for the transportation of students to or from school-sponsored activities.

(b)

(1) Any new school bus whose function involves the loading or discharging of students as passengers shall be equipped with a flashing white strobe light in order to provide greater visibility to drivers in approaching vehicles.

(2) The strobe light shall be in addition to those flasher lights required under § 27-51-1002.

(c) Any new school bus whose function involves the loading or discharging of students as passengers on a regular route shall be equipped with an electric, air, or hydraulic-operated crossing gate in order to prevent a student from crossing in front of the bus in such a way that the school bus driver is unlikely to see him or her.

(d) On and after July 1, 1997, all other school buses shall be retrofitted with a flashing white strobe light and an electric, air, or hydraulic-operated crossing gate for purposes as described in this section.

(e) No later than July 1 of each year, the superintendent of each local school district shall certify to the Division of Public School Academic Facilities and Transportation that the district is in compliance with the provisions of this section.

(f) The Director of the Division of Public School Academic Facilities and Transportation shall cause to be publicized the third week of October as School Bus Safety Week.

(g) If funding is provided as required in § 6-19-130(d), a school bus that is purchased new or leased and that is to be used in Arkansas on or after January 1, 2018, shall be equipped with a passenger restraint system as defined in § 6-19-130 in a number sufficient to allow each student who is being transported in the school bus to use a passenger restraint system.