The other day when I was the last car past a school bus with his lights flashing I witnessed the three cars behind me all continue past the stopped bus with its lights flashing red, which is not only illegal but makes three idiot drivers out there marked as tweedle dee, tweedle dumb, and tweedle dumber.
I've also been behind drivers who have ignored stopped busses, but I will stop and I myself like to be at least four car lengths behind the bus if I'm first stopped.
Has anyone else noticed that people are treating stopped school busses like traffic signals and running them after the flashers go from yellow to red?
It's always been a problem. That said, social media seems to be playing a part in at list stigmatizing those that do ignore school buses.
I've seen it happen before. It doesn't happen a lot in my area, but I've seen it back during my time riding school buses.
Well I do notice also a pattern similar to my OP at stoplights. I will approach a signal that's turning yellow and I'm far enough away from the signal where I should brake to stop but I don't. I continue across the intersection with the light becoming red as I'm with in it, yet several drivers following me copy my behavior and ignore the red light with every one of them having to be crossing the stop bar when the light is completely red.
I know that the school bus stops have those same drivers and the same MO must prevail. Although I have never tested a a red light myself on a school bus like I do traffic lights.
Honestly, requiring all vehicles to stop for school buses is dumb. The USA and Canada, as far as I know, are literally the only two countries in the world to require it.
How do children in other countries manage to survive their trip to and from school? :hmmm:
I'd rather they amend the law to simply require drivers to slow down to, say, 20 mph.
Quote from: kphoger on November 14, 2023, 11:23:03 AM
Honestly, requiring all vehicles to stop for school buses is dumb. The USA and Canada, as far as I know, are literally the only two countries in the world to require it.
How do children in other countries manage to survive their trip to and from school? :hmmm:
I'd rather they amend the law to simply require drivers to slow down to, say, 20 mph.
This would be my preference as well, especially if the bus is stopping on a road with multiple lanes in the same travel direction.
Meh. Kids do dumb things, like cross in front of the bus and opposing lanes. Keep traffic stopped.
^ Which brings up the question... are European kids less prone to doing dumb things? And if so, why? What are they doing right that we aren't?
My pet peeve is the law requires small vans operating as school buses to stop at railroad grade crossings despite the odds of them being in a collision with a train is very slim.
The fact that that a school bus stops at a railroad crossing is because it's a long vehicle that has a chance it's rear part can get clipped from a train due to its slow acceleration from traveling slowly across the tracks. I think when the law was made, smaller school buses weren't that prominent in use as they are today. Small school buses are vans just as much as private use vans which don't have to stop under law, and should be exempt from full stops.
Quote from: Rothman on November 14, 2023, 12:32:24 PM
Meh. Kids do dumb things, like cross in front of the bus and opposing lanes. Keep traffic stopped.
Meh. Kids do dumb things, like cross the street without looking when playing in the front yard, chasing a cat, going for a walk, pretty much anytime they're near a street. No need to keep traffic stopped.
Quote from: vdeane on November 14, 2023, 12:40:42 PM
Which brings up the question... are European kids less prone to doing dumb things? And if so, why? What are they doing right that we aren't?
I assume children are taught better how to cross the street, and drivers are trained better to yield to pedestrians. In this country, on the other hand, we prefer to craft traffic laws based on the premise that nobody should ever have to make a judgment call or use common sense.
Quote from: kphoger on November 14, 2023, 12:45:11 PM
Quote from: Rothman on November 14, 2023, 12:32:24 PM
Meh. Kids do dumb things, like cross in front of the bus and opposing lanes. Keep traffic stopped.
Meh. Kids do dumb things, like cross the street without looking when playing in the front yard, chasing a cat, going for a walk, pretty much anytime they're near a street. No need to keep traffic stopped.
When the school bus driver can control for this situation rather than random kid spazzes, sure we should.
Then again, I don't like people who keep their kids from trick-or-treating because they're afraid that they'll get hit by a car.
Quote from: kphoger on November 14, 2023, 11:23:03 AM
Honestly, requiring all vehicles to stop for school buses is dumb. The USA and Canada, as far as I know, are literally the only two countries in the world to require it.
How do children in other countries manage to survive their trip to and from school? :hmmm:
I'd rather they amend the law to simply require drivers to slow down to, say, 20 mph.
Or, in every state, require bus drivers to pull over and wave ahead traffic behind them that builds up after making multiple stops on a main road.
I don't trust children enough to be aware of traffic on the road.
The bigger issue I've found is busses being limited (in CT) to 50mph on highways. This makes them sitting ducks on multi-lane portions of highways. They should be able to go at least 60mph.
Quote from: Rothman on November 14, 2023, 01:17:13 PM
Quote from: kphoger on November 14, 2023, 12:45:11 PM
Quote from: Rothman on November 14, 2023, 12:32:24 PM
Meh. Kids do dumb things, like cross in front of the bus and opposing lanes. Keep traffic stopped.
Meh. Kids do dumb things, like cross the street without looking when playing in the front yard, chasing a cat, going for a walk, pretty much anytime they're near a street. No need to keep traffic stopped.
When the school bus driver can control for this situation rather than random kid spazzes, sure we should.
Then again, I don't like people who keep their kids from trick-or-treating because they're afraid that they'll get hit by a car.
I believe most school districts in NY build bus routes so that kids don't have to do something as dangerous as crossing the road.
Statistically, I believe, most school bus related accidents are kids getting hit by a bus itself, often on the school property.
Quote from: kalvado on November 14, 2023, 02:48:35 PM
Quote from: Rothman on November 14, 2023, 01:17:13 PM
Quote from: kphoger on November 14, 2023, 12:45:11 PM
Quote from: Rothman on November 14, 2023, 12:32:24 PM
Meh. Kids do dumb things, like cross in front of the bus and opposing lanes. Keep traffic stopped.
Meh. Kids do dumb things, like cross the street without looking when playing in the front yard, chasing a cat, going for a walk, pretty much anytime they're near a street. No need to keep traffic stopped.
When the school bus driver can control for this situation rather than random kid spazzes, sure we should.
Then again, I don't like people who keep their kids from trick-or-treating because they're afraid that they'll get hit by a car.
I believe most school districts in NY build bus routes so that kids don't have to do something as dangerous as crossing the road.
Statistically, I believe, most school bus related accidents are kids getting hit by a bus itself, often on the school property.
Despite NY being the only state in the US that requires traffic on the opposite side of a divided highway to stop for school busses.
Quote from: RobbieL2415 on November 14, 2023, 02:53:27 PM
Despite NY being the only state in the US that requires traffic on the opposite side of a divided highway to stop for school busses.
Which is bizarre, because how many bus stops are there on divided highways?
Florida just enacted a law that would allow school buses to have cameras that ticket motorists who pass when the stop signs are extended. Interestingly enough, the buses with photo enforcement mechanisms must be labeled with "Camera Enforced" instead of "Photo Enforced." Minimum fine $200 for ticket. I'm not sure which districts have decided to implement this yet. :poke:
SB 766 - effective July 1, 2023: https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2023/766/BillText/er/PDF
Quote from: webny99 on November 14, 2023, 03:18:09 PM
Quote from: RobbieL2415 on November 14, 2023, 02:53:27 PM
Despite NY being the only state in the US that requires traffic on the opposite side of a divided highway to stop for school busses.
Which is bizarre, because how many bus stops are there on divided highways?
Here's an example on Florida SR-85: https://www.google.com/maps/@30.7017463,-86.5710228,3a,19.2y,7.3h,91.47t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s-RY5ZowE29K8VcDrrBBi9w!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu
Quote from: ElishaGOtis on November 14, 2023, 03:25:50 PM
Florida just enacted a law that would allow school buses to have cameras that ticket motorists who pass when the stop signs are extended. Interestingly enough, the buses with photo enforcement mechanisms must be labeled with "Camera Enforced" instead of "Photo Enforced." Minimum fine $200 for ticket. I'm not sure which districts have decided to implement this yet. :poke:
SB 766 - effective July 1, 2023: https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2023/766/BillText/er/PDF
Quote from: webny99 on November 14, 2023, 03:18:09 PM
Quote from: RobbieL2415 on November 14, 2023, 02:53:27 PM
Despite NY being the only state in the US that requires traffic on the opposite side of a divided highway to stop for school busses.
Which is bizarre, because how many bus stops are there on divided highways?
Here's an example on Florida SR-85: https://www.google.com/maps/@30.7017463,-86.5710228,3a,19.2y,7.3h,91.47t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s-RY5ZowE29K8VcDrrBBi9w!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu
Becoming pretty common around here. And appropriate signs must be posted on major roads entering the jurisdiction, hence some of these signs are on interstates.
Quote from: kalvado on November 14, 2023, 02:48:35 PM
Quote from: Rothman on November 14, 2023, 01:17:13 PM
Quote from: kphoger on November 14, 2023, 12:45:11 PM
Quote from: Rothman on November 14, 2023, 12:32:24 PM
Meh. Kids do dumb things, like cross in front of the bus and opposing lanes. Keep traffic stopped.
Meh. Kids do dumb things, like cross the street without looking when playing in the front yard, chasing a cat, going for a walk, pretty much anytime they're near a street. No need to keep traffic stopped.
When the school bus driver can control for this situation rather than random kid spazzes, sure we should.
Then again, I don't like people who keep their kids from trick-or-treating because they're afraid that they'll get hit by a car.
I believe most school districts in NY build bus routes so that kids don't have to do something as dangerous as crossing the road.
Statistically, I believe, most school bus related accidents are kids getting hit by a bus itself, often on the school property.
I've even seen it asserted on the internet that this is the law. Unfortunately, Google is being useless right now, so I can't verify this. Every result is instead about what drivers need to do for stopped school buses, and not for the placement of bus stops.
What gets me in Orlando I will see a school bus stop twice within a tenth of a mile at two neighboring subdivisions along Kirkman Road. Instead the bus could stop between the two and both kids can walk each way to their homes. Why screw up traffic and make stops too close to each other and spread them out and let the youth walk a few extra steps and get the needed exercise that they could use.
There should be a minimum distance between stops and if two stops are within a stones throw of each other than stop at one or the other or half way.
Quote from: kalvado on November 14, 2023, 02:48:35 PM
I believe most school districts in NY build bus routes so that kids don't have to do something as dangerous as crossing the road.
Ridiculous. The only year of school I took the bus was kindergarten, but I had to cross a street
just to get to the bus stop. (From first grade on, I rode my bike to school, which—shocker!—involved crossing several streets.) How do these kids go to their friends' house to play in the summer? Get a police escort?
Quote from: kalvado on November 14, 2023, 02:48:35 PM
Statistically, I believe, most school bus related accidents are kids getting hit by a bus itself, often on the school property.
One such accident that made the news in the Wichita area recently was a child who darted out between two parked cars and was hit by the school bus.
Quote from: webny99 on November 14, 2023, 03:18:09 PM
how many bus stops are there on divided highways?
Wouldn't
something like this (https://maps.app.goo.gl/yTD34SPBN8WTL9xP7) count as a divided highway in such context?
Quote from: vdeane on November 14, 2023, 08:37:53 PM
I've even seen it asserted on the internet that this is the law. Unfortunately, Google is being useless right now, so I can't verify this. Every result is instead about what drivers need to do for stopped school buses, and not for the placement of bus stops.
This document (https://www.p12.nysed.gov/schoolbus/Parents/htm/school_bus_stops.html) may shed some light. I specifically note such parts as these:
"The district is not required to provide a protected corridor from students' homes to the bus stop ..."
"It is important to note that one school district will make all home pickups because of lack of sidewalks, and another district will expect students to travel one mile along similar roads to the bus stop. These are district decisions based on criteria established by the school board ..."
"Some districts have gone even further and established that no children will be required to cross the road to get to the bus stop. A more common procedure is for a district to identify certain roads within a district as "no crossing" roads because of the speed and density of traffic."
Quote from: roadman65 on November 14, 2023, 09:30:51 PM
What gets me in Orlando I will see a school bus stop twice within a tenth of a mile at two neighboring subdivisions along Kirkman Road. Instead the bus could stop between the two and both kids can walk each way to their homes. Why screw up traffic and make stops too close to each other and spread them out and let the youth walk a few extra steps and get the needed exercise that they could use.
There should be a minimum distance between stops and if two stops are within a stones throw of each other than stop at one or the other or half way.
The same New York document I posted should shed some light on this issue as well. For example:
"Education Law 3635 requires that students be provided transportation if they live more than two miles (K-8) or three miles (9-12) from school. Students can not be asked to go further than this to a school bus stop, unless the school board determines that the road where the student lives is too hazardous for school bus travel. Districts can choose to provide a higher level of service. There must be voter approval for any lesser distances and there will be no state reimbursement for distances under one and a half miles."
"Instead of or in addition to establishing a maximum distance a student may be required to travel to a bus stop, it is possible to establish a minimum distance between stops. This assures proper distance for bus drivers to leave one stop, move into traffic, and correctly signal their intention to stop again. Common distances used for this strategy are one- or two-tenths of a mile."
"There is a danger that students walking alongside the bus would fall under the rear wheels. In order to avoid that possibility, stops should be established so students will only have to walk in front of the bus. For instance, if children from three houses got on at the same stop, the stop should be established at the first house so the other students would remain in front of the bus as they traveled home."
Quote from: roadman65 on November 14, 2023, 12:44:04 PM
My pet peeve is the law requires small vans operating as school buses to stop at railroad grade crossings despite the odds of them being in a collision with a train is very slim.
The fact that that a school bus stops at a railroad crossing is because it's a long vehicle that has a chance it's rear part can get clipped from a train due to its slow acceleration from traveling slowly across the tracks. I think when the law was made, smaller school buses weren't that prominent in use as they are today. Small school buses are vans just as much as private use vans which don't have to stop under law, and should be exempt from full stops.
That's not the reason; length or just being a school bus has nothing to do with it. Federal regulations say any "bus" (defined as any vehicle designed to carry passengers) must stop 15-50 feet from the crossing, look both ways, and listen (usually by opening the door). I drive for a transit agency and have to do the same thing. The same regulations apply to vehicles carrying certain hazardous materials. You can thank a bus accident back in the 30s for that.
Quote from: roadman65 on November 14, 2023, 12:44:04 PM
My pet peeve is the law requires small vans operating as school buses to stop at railroad grade crossings despite the odds of them being in a collision with a train is very slim.
The fact that that a school bus stops at a railroad crossing is because it's a long vehicle that has a chance it's rear part can get clipped from a train due to its slow acceleration from traveling slowly across the tracks. I think when the law was made, smaller school buses weren't that prominent in use as they are today. Small school buses are vans just as much as private use vans which don't have to stop under law, and should be exempt from full stops.
This is incorrect. Passenger-carrying commercial vehicles are required to stop at railroad crossings, and they're defined as having capacity for more than 15 passengers. Which definitely includes some vehicles you are calling "vans".
So it seems like it's not because of length, but rather the fact that they don't want vehicles with that many people to be hit by a train.
Passing a stopped school bus in my neck of the woods nets you a $250 fine if caught by school bus camera (yes they exist here), or up to $570 "and" 3 points on your license if you are cited by an officer.
So, even if you disagree, don't do it my neck of the woods unless you can deal with all that. Or stay away, which some of you would do anyway. Which is fine.
Quote from: kphoger on November 14, 2023, 12:45:11 PM
Quote from: Rothman on November 14, 2023, 12:32:24 PM
Meh. Kids do dumb things, like cross in front of the bus and opposing lanes. Keep traffic stopped.
Meh. Kids do dumb things, like cross the street without looking when playing in the front yard, chasing a cat, going for a walk, pretty much anytime they're near a street. No need to keep traffic stopped.
Quote from: vdeane on November 14, 2023, 12:40:42 PM
Which brings up the question... are European kids less prone to doing dumb things? And if so, why? What are they doing right that we aren't?
I assume children are taught better how to cross the street, and drivers are trained better to yield to pedestrians. In this country, on the other hand, we prefer to craft traffic laws based on the premise that nobody should ever have to make a judgment call or use common sense.
With all due respect, I see a huge lack of common sense among drivers in the US. And the drivers (who are supposedly the smart adults) will win any collision with human beings, in the school bus situation.
Quote from: tmoore952 on January 20, 2024, 01:19:48 PM
Quote from: kphoger on November 14, 2023, 12:45:11 PM
Quote from: Rothman on November 14, 2023, 12:32:24 PM
Meh. Kids do dumb things, like cross in front of the bus and opposing lanes. Keep traffic stopped.
Meh. Kids do dumb things, like cross the street without looking when playing in the front yard, chasing a cat, going for a walk, pretty much anytime they're near a street. No need to keep traffic stopped.
Quote from: vdeane on November 14, 2023, 12:40:42 PM
Which brings up the question... are European kids less prone to doing dumb things? And if so, why? What are they doing right that we aren't?
I assume children are taught better how to cross the street, and drivers are trained better to yield to pedestrians. In this country, on the other hand, we prefer to craft traffic laws based on the premise that nobody should ever have to make a judgment call or use common sense.
With all due respect, I see a huge lack of common sense among drivers in the US. And the drivers (who are supposedly the smart adults) will win any collision with human beings, in the school bus situation.
And one may say that creating an artificial situation when kids are kept so that they don't have to make judgement calls with school bus rules feeds into that lack of common sense.
Quote from: vdeane on November 14, 2023, 12:40:42 PM
^ Which brings up the question... are European kids less prone to doing dumb things? And if so, why? What are they doing right that we aren't?
Does Europe even have many school buses? In dense urban environments, schools are normally within walking distance of a student's home, aren't they?
Europe typically has more dedicated space for buses to pull off to the side than the U.S. does, hence the difference. And there is a difference between "buses" and "busses."
Quote from: Road Hog on January 20, 2024, 11:33:27 PM
And there is a difference between "buses" and "busses."
Whatever. They were both commonly used back when 'omnibus' came to be shortened to just 'bus'. The single-s plural grew in popularity while the double-s one declined, but that's about it. Same difference, really.
In South Carolina, if you're on a multi-lane road, only traffic going in the same direction as the school bus are required to stop, but in several cases I've witnessed, people in both directions end up stopping. It should be noted in these cases, there was no center turn lane, just a double solid line.
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=783342372472131
The state MUTCD supplement has signs (Page 88 & 89) that read STOPPED FOR STOPPED SCHOOL BUS SAME/ANY DIRECTION. Not sure if those signs are a good idea, since someone might only see one of those signs and assume that's the law for all school buses.
https://scdot.org/business/pdf/accessMgt/trafficEngineering/supplement_mutcd_rev_02-24-2023.pdf
Quote from: PColumbus73 on January 23, 2024, 08:23:11 PM
The state MUTCD supplement has signs (Page 88 & 89) that read STOPPED FOR STOPPED SCHOOL BUS SAME/ANY DIRECTION. Not sure if those signs are a good idea, since someone might only see one of those signs and assume that's the law for all school buses.
The only state in the union where this is always true, is New York.
Quote from: PColumbus73 on January 23, 2024, 08:23:11 PM
In South Carolina, if you're on a multi-lane road, only traffic going in the same direction as the school bus are required to stop, but in several cases I've witnessed, people in both directions end up stopping. It should be noted in these cases, there was no center turn lane, just a double solid line.
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=783342372472131
The state MUTCD supplement has signs (Page 88 & 89) that read STOPPED FOR STOPPED SCHOOL BUS SAME/ANY DIRECTION. Not sure if those signs are a good idea, since someone might only see one of those signs and assume that's the law for all school buses.
https://scdot.org/business/pdf/accessMgt/trafficEngineering/supplement_mutcd_rev_02-24-2023.pdf
In case anyone is curious, here is the actual law. As you stated, you're not required to stop if the road has at least two lanes per direction, even if it's undivided.
Quote from: South Carolina Code of Laws
Title 56 — Motor Vehicles
Chapter 5 — Uniform Act Regulating Traffic on Highways
Article 21 — Required Stops
§ 56-5-2770 — Signals and markings on school buses; meeting, overtaking and passing school bus; loading passengers along multi-lane highways.
(A) The driver of a vehicle meeting or overtaking from either direction a school bus stopped on a highway or private road must stop before reaching the bus where there are in operation on the bus flashing red lights specified in State Department of Education Regulations and Specifications Pertaining to School Buses, and the driver must not proceed until the bus resumes motion or the flashing red lights are no longer actuated.
(B) The driver of a vehicle need not stop upon meeting a stopped school bus when traveling in the opposite direction on a multi-lane highway or multi-lane private road.
(G) For the purposes of this section a multi-lane highway or multi-lane private road is a highway or private road that consists of four or more traffic lanes, having at least two traffic lanes traveling in each direction.
I have no problem with stopping for the school bus. Kids live on both sides of the road, so everyone would have to cross the road in front of traffic either going or coming. Making people stop on a divided highway the kid isn't crossing is dumb.
My gripes about school traffic are twofold.
- The typical school in my area, maybe 90% of schools, is a building set very far back from the road, with a long driveway for the buses to line up and a large parking lot, with at least the playground, if not the entire lot, fenced in. There are no sidewalks and NO CHILD walks to school. None, zero, not "just a handful", none. Yet the SL is 15 MPH, and 100% there is a random tax agent there, every day. There literally is no interaction possible between a child on foot and a car and no reason the standard SL for the area to be maintained. If anything the cops could stop traffic to let the buses out on the road, but of course, there is no money in that.
- Kids refuse to ride the bus. I get it, I do. But there will be a line of maybe 50 or even at one school I know 100 cars just stopped on the road, blocking traffic for 40 or 50 minutes. In the full view of the abovesaid cop. I was out of town and saw this school and there was a sign "Do Not Block Traffic - $250 fine" with a citation to a city code under it. Never knew there was such a thing, but I want one.
Quote from: kphoger on January 24, 2024, 01:08:59 PM
Quote from: PColumbus73 on January 23, 2024, 08:23:11 PM
In South Carolina, if you're on a multi-lane road, only traffic going in the same direction as the school bus are required to stop, but in several cases I've witnessed, people in both directions end up stopping. It should be noted in these cases, there was no center turn lane, just a double solid line.
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=783342372472131
The state MUTCD supplement has signs (Page 88 & 89) that read STOPPED FOR STOPPED SCHOOL BUS SAME/ANY DIRECTION. Not sure if those signs are a good idea, since someone might only see one of those signs and assume that's the law for all school buses.
https://scdot.org/business/pdf/accessMgt/trafficEngineering/supplement_mutcd_rev_02-24-2023.pdf
In case anyone is curious, here is the actual law. As you stated, you're not required to stop if the road has at least two lanes per direction, even if it's undivided.
Quote from: South Carolina Code of Laws
Title 56 — Motor Vehicles
Chapter 5 — Uniform Act Regulating Traffic on Highways
Article 21 — Required Stops
§ 56-5-2770 — Signals and markings on school buses; meeting, overtaking and passing school bus; loading passengers along multi-lane highways.
(A) The driver of a vehicle meeting or overtaking from either direction a school bus stopped on a highway or private road must stop before reaching the bus where there are in operation on the bus flashing red lights specified in State Department of Education Regulations and Specifications Pertaining to School Buses, and the driver must not proceed until the bus resumes motion or the flashing red lights are no longer actuated.
(B) The driver of a vehicle need not stop upon meeting a stopped school bus when traveling in the opposite direction on a multi-lane highway or multi-lane private road.
(G) For the purposes of this section a multi-lane highway or multi-lane private road is a highway or private road that consists of four or more traffic lanes, having at least two traffic lanes traveling in each direction.
Child's play compared to Washington State's law:
Quote from: Revised Code of Washington | RCW 46.61.370
Overtaking or meeting school bus, exceptions—Duties of bus driver—Penalty—Safety cameras.
(2) The driver of a vehicle upon a highway divided into separate roadways as provided in RCW 46.61.150 need not stop upon meeting a school bus which is proceeding in the opposite direction and is stopped for the purpose of receiving or discharging school children.
(3) The driver of a vehicle upon a highway with three or more marked traffic lanes need not stop upon meeting a school bus which is proceeding in the opposite direction and is stopped for the purpose of receiving or discharging school children.
(4) The driver of a school bus shall actuate the visual signals required by RCW 46.37.190 only when such bus is stopped on the roadway for the purpose of receiving or discharging school children.
(5) The driver of a school bus may stop completely off the roadway for the purpose of receiving or discharging school children only when the school children do not have to cross the roadway. The school bus driver shall actuate the hazard warning lamps as defined in RCW 46.37.215 before loading or unloading school children at such stops.
https://app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=46.61.370Basically, any road with a two-way center lane does not require stopping. Heck, a three lane road with two lanes going towards a stopped bus wouldn't require stopping.
This law stems from rules which do not allow children to cross more than one lane of traffic. So the law was made that only roads with two lanes of traffic have to completely stop.
Quote from: SP Cook on January 24, 2024, 02:17:15 PM
- Kids refuse to ride the bus. I get it, I do. But there will be a line of maybe 50 or even at one school I know 100 cars just stopped on the road, blocking traffic for 40 or 50 minutes. In the full view of the abovesaid cop. I was out of town and saw this school and there was a sign "Do Not Block Traffic - $250 fine" with a citation to a city code under it. Never knew there was such a thing, but I want one.
Riding the bus was a generally unpleasant endeavor for me, living in a geographically large, rural school district. For one thing, the bus routes were so long it took about an hour and a half to get home while the bus wound up and down all of the gravel section line roads and dead-end backroads that kids lived on. This didn't matter much when I was in elementary school, but in middle and high school I ended up not having time to do homework because I wasted all of it on the bus. When I got home, I was usually nauseous from all of the bumping and bouncing up and down the poorly-maintained roads (which also made it so I couldn't do homework on the bus, since it would come out illegible). So, yes, at a certain point I refused to ride the bus anymore.
That being said, parking laws should be enforced on streets in front of schools at pickup time. I live on the same street as a middle school and seeing entitled parents doing basically whatever because they Have A Kid is pretty infuriating. I'm sorry, Darlene, but just because you're a mom doesn't mean you get to run stop signs and park in bike lanes. At the school I went to, the parent-pickup area was a parking lot big enough to accommodate everyone. All schools should provide one of these, rather than just waiving the rules of the road for an hour a day.
Quote from: kphoger on November 15, 2023, 10:12:35 AM
Quote from: kalvado on November 14, 2023, 02:48:35 PM
I believe most school districts in NY build bus routes so that kids don't have to do something as dangerous as crossing the road.
Ridiculous. The only year of school I took the bus was kindergarten, but I had to cross a street just to get to the bus stop. (From first grade on, I rode my bike to school, which—shocker!—involved crossing several streets.) How do these kids go to their friends' house to play in the summer? Get a police escort?
Just seeing this now for some reason...
I do occasionally see kids crossing the street to get on the bus in a residential neighborhood, but rarely/never on a main road (defining main road as having yellow stripes down the middle). Shared bus stops in residential neighborhoods are also common, where the kids are waiting on the appropriate side of the road when the bus arrives, but it's safe to assume some of them crossed the road at some point before the bus arrived. :D