48 replies to this topic

[Tonto]

LEOs...I have a stopped school bus question for you.

The scene would be a 4 way intersection, stop signs at each corner.

A school bus is at the stop sign, headed South. it is stopped, with it's red lights flashing & picking up kids.

A North bound car approaches the intersection, across from the bus.

After making a complete stop, at the stop sign, is the car allowed to proceed to make a left or right turn?

[pshooter]

while i am not LEO i would wait for the flashing lights to turn off before proceeding.

[zzrguy]

That a good one would like to hear the answer.
I would wait unless I was making a right.

[Joe Shmoe]

Not a cop, but this is from the NYS website. So with your example, you are not PASSING the school bus. So it should be legal.

http://www.safeny.ny.gov/opsafstp.htm

THE LAW SAYS:

• It is illegal - and very dangerous - to pass a stopped school bus when the large red lights located on top of the bus are flashing. Flashing lights mean the bus is picking up or discharging students.
• You must stop whether you are approaching the school bus from the front or overtaking it from the rear.
• You must always stop for flashing red lights, even on divided and multilane highways and on school grounds.
• The first-time fine for illegally passing a school bus is a $250 to $400 fine, 5 points on your license, and/or possibly 30 days in jail.
• Worse yet, the memory of hitting or killing a child may be one you carry for the rest of your life!

[rcpilot]

• You must always stop for flashing red lights, even on divided and multilane highways and on school grounds.

Has anyone ever seen anyone stop on the opposite side of a divided highway?

[Joe Shmoe]

I was thinking the same thing.

[The Architect]

I wouldnt do it, never know where kids will come from. I've seen them run from all different directions to catch the bus.

[BLAMMO]

Has anyone ever seen anyone stop on the opposite side of a divided highway?

No, I've never seen it. But this was a topic of discussion in a defensive driving course I took some years ago. Everybody seemed surprised at it but the instructor cited instances where people were ticketed for it.

Pure revenue play.

I see a stopped school bus with the lights flashing I stop and I don't move until the lights stop flashing.

Edited by BLAMMO, May 10 2016 - 02:23 PM.

[Kamakazi118]

I haven't encountered the opposite side of the highway thing, but I approach a bus stop every morning perpendicular to the bus (nose to nose at a 90 degree angle). Although no flashing lights or school bus stop signs are visible from my position, and I don't have a road stop sign, I always stop and wait for the bus to proceed (even though sometimes it really urks me). I'm not sure of the legality of proceeding, but I would say I stop more so because of instances such as this morning..... approached the bus stop as I usually do and I saw the bus pulling up so I stopped as usual. When the school bus doors opened, 3 elementary school kids came running across the street in front of me to get to the bus stop without even looking (of course while the mother stood on the front lawn). My second reasoning is courtesy to the parents. I'm the new comer (and youngest home owner) in the neighborhood of young families, a very nice neighborhood (much nicer than where I grew up) and I don't want to be the yuppie single douche on the block that blows past the bus stop (but more importantly I don't want to hit a kid). so what I'm saying is, I would stop in the situation you are detailing just in case..... really shouldn't take too much time out of your day.

[Lazygent]

From a senior bus driver,,,NO,,NO,,

[Joe Shmoe]

From a senior bus driver,,,NO,,NO,,

As per the law or just your experience?

[Lazygent]

I'am not the bus driver,,just spoke to them,,they are told it is against the law...

[Number 2]

I encounter situations like this and similar often, I always wait. what's the worse that can happen by waiting, you waste a minute or two of your life?

[Aquabach]

Has anyone ever seen anyone stop on the opposite side of a divided highway?

I have and do.
I know it's the law and it's a great fine they like to look for.
There are many residential areas with a divided road and technically they call it a highway. We're not talking about Sunrise Hwy.

As to the OP, i would say it was legal to turn becasue you are not passing the school bus.

Edited by Aquabach, May 10 2016 - 02:51 PM.

[Joe Shmoe]

I encounter situations like this and similar often, I always wait. what's the worse that can happen by waiting, you waste a minute or two of your life?

I'm not arguing about the waiting. op was about what the law says. Not what we do. Hell...I wait also.

[Tonto]

I myself have always waited. I have 4 kids & 2 take a bus currently & I see hoe other kids run sometimes to catch it & they can come from any angle.

That said, I would think it would be legal to turn, since you aren't passing the bus.

This question arose this morning when another parent was talking to my wife about it.

[Tonto]

Has anyone ever seen anyone stop on the opposite side of a divided highway?

I'd say it might depend upon what they call a highway. On Rt 109, in Farmingdale, there is a grass strip between the 2 sides & I've seen cars stop for a bus on the other side & also just drive right on by.

[safety42]

Has anyone ever seen anyone stop on the opposite side of a divided highway?

yes, I do

[rlitman]

I myself have always waited. I have 4 kids & 2 take a bus currently & I see hoe other kids run sometimes to catch it & they can come from any angle.

That said, I would think it would be legal to turn, since you aren't passing the bus.

This question arose this morning when another parent was talking to my wife about it.

I agree with you completely. The bus' red lights and stop sign control traffic going to/from its direction only (yes, even on the other side of a divided highway), not perpendicular to it.

That being said, stopping at an intersection as drawn by the OP exposes the passengers to unnecessary danger simply because of this. For this reason, I would CONSIDER stopping (being seen as stopped and waiting with your turn signal on across the street can lead a pedestrian walking down the diagram to be mislead into thinking the intersection is clear, and being hit by a car traveling left/right misled in the same way; it's all in the situation...). But the bigger problem IMNSHO is that the bus shouldn't be stopping there at all.

In the past (back when I was a passenger), I've seen my bus driver pull out diagonally into the intersection, so he could block traffic in all directions. It was an elegant solution on a narrow road, though it would have you stepping out into the middle of the road on a bigger road where it wouldn't work.

The other solution would be for the school district to simply not allow stops at the intersection. Here's a document from 1992 describing better ways that the school bus should be handling this:
http://www.p12.nysed..._bus_stops.html
Scroll down to "Proximity to Hazard" and "Intersection Stops"

[Phoenix69]

Just wait.