You will be seeing a lot of school buses on the road as school starts this week. It’s a good time to review when you should stop for a school bus. The most common misunderstanding is when there is a center turn lane, and vehicles are traveling in the opposite direction, you do not need to stop. Fines for violating these rules can be hefty, so please make sure you know what to do. We ask all drivers to be patient with the bus drivers as they carry our precious cargo. Lastly, always proceed with caution when school buses or children are present. Have a safe new school year!
The post Do You Know When to Stop For a School Bus? first appeared on Pierce County Sheriff’s Department Blotter.
This is one of my biggest irritations when driving, people who needlessly stop for school buses when they don’t have to. The video doesn’t spend enough to time highlighting it. Look at diagrams 2, 3 and 4 carefully. You don’t have to stop in the opposite direction in any of those cases!!
Here’s another way to think of it. Children are so incredibly precious these days so there is no way a school bus will allow them to cross anything more than a single lane of traffic to get across the road (eventually even that will go away). If they have to cross a median, a turn lane or a 4 lane road the bus will instead come from the other direction.
Many will comment it’s better to be safe than sorry. These people also stop to allow cars or cyclists to turn in front of them, ignoring right of way traffic rules and causing rear end collisions behind them. These helpless kitten drivers are as big a nuisance as the alpha dogs on the road.
Accidents happen because of simple things — like a parent wanting to get to work on time so they send their child across to the other side to catch the bus going the other direction first. Something like that happened a few years ago here in Lakewood–single lanes with a median. The child did not survive. Now it is a 4 lane road. My understanding is if it is a 4 lane road, you can pass. If it is 2 (even w/median), you cannot. Am I wrong?
In any event, don’t get annoyed, just say–oh well–. After all a child’s life is worth more than 4 minutes of your time. And remember, children and teenagers don’t always read the rules=or follow them. That’s why you are the adult who is driving.
Hello JoAnn: If there is at least one lane between the lane in which you are driving and the lane the school bus is traveling in the opposite direction, you may continue without stopping. For example; if there is a turn lane between you and the bus, you should continue driving. These are not suggestions; they are law. People who do not follow the law and rules of the road cause accidents. Many rear-end accidents are caused by people who inadvertently and illegally stop in the middle of the road when, by law, they should not.