School bus traffic stop laws

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School bus stop laws vary by locale and there is controversy regarding them and school bus safety.

Contents

[edit] School bus stop laws in the United States and Canada

Jurisdictions in the United States (including overseas territories) and Canada have adopted various school bus stop laws that require drivers to stop and wait for a stopped school bus loading or unloading, so as to protect school children boarding or alighting. Section 11-705 of the 1992 Uniform Vehicle Code (UVC)is a model law that does not have legal force. Generally, a driver of a vehicle meeting or overtaking from either direction (front or back) a stopped school bus flashing alternating red lamps must stop and not go again until the bus moves again or the red lights are off. Police officers, school crossing guards, and even school bus drivers themselves in certain places may have the power to wave traffic on even when red lights are flashing. All drivers must stop 100 actual feet behind the school bus.

On divided highways, most American and Canadian jurisdictions do not require vehicular drivers to stop when on the opposite side of the road from a stopped school bus. Those that do require vehicles to stop are :

Whether requiring traffic to stop for a stopped school bus on a different roadway of a divided highway is practical is subject to controversies (see below for arguments for and against).

American and Canadian jurisdictions have sought to deter illegal passing stopped school buses by increased enforcement and heavy penalties, including fines, application of demerit points against a driver's license or even license suspension. Nevertheless, violations are common. An officer must witness the violation, and even when citations issued, getting convictions is often difficult [1]; sometimes traffic courts consider the evidence insufficient, or reduce the charge because the penalty for a first offense seems excessive.

The effectiveness of current school bus stop laws has been questioned. School bus stop laws in some other countries allow a driver to pass a stopped school bus at low speed. While passing stopped school bus illegally itself is not considered speeding throughout the United States and Canada (the penalties apply without regard to how fast the driver passes the bus), passing a stopped school bus at a high speed may involve another violation (such as speeding).

In New York State, an official estimate is that 50000 vehicles pass stopped school buses illegally every day [2]. However, as New York State requires traffic to stop for a school bus stopped on the opposing roadway of a divided highway, the estimate may include "New York violations" that would be legal in other states. The New York State Department of Transportation once recommended that the State Legislature exempt traffic from stopping for a school bus stopped on the opposing roadway of a divided highway, but this has not been done.

In New York City except Staten Island, stopping for stopped school buses was not required as in the rest of New York State. The stopping requirement is now in effect in New York City, but vehicles passing stopped school buses illegally appears to be very common, sometimes several vehicles in less than a minute that makes enforcement extremely difficult. Yet the New York Police Department has once reported that this kind of violation rarely happened, presumably because the police could not easily enforce the relevant law or witness most violations.

In California, a vehicle driver approaching an intersection at which a school bus is stopped shall stop his vehicle at that intersection until the flashing red signal lights are no longer actuated [3]. Supporters of this law may argue that children may dart out into an intersection, so traffic from the left and right must stop. Opponents may blame this law for being too vague (with regard to what exactly at an intersection means), non-standard and visitor-unfriendly (as compared with laws in most other places) and question how vehicular drivers can know and see if a school bus on a side road is loading or unloading, especially if buildings obstruct their vision.

On a national basis, school bus drivers in the United States have reported a decrease in passing violators in recent years with improved warning devices. Despite an increase in traffic and school bus ridership, annual fatalities and injuries to children struck by other vehicles has decreased as well. However, it is unclear whether having reported a decrease in passing violators is due to difficulty to report or better compliance by motorists.

When and where enforcement against violators becomes too hard, some residential streets may prohibit entry of vehicles other than school buses at certain times to effectively eliminate passing stopped school buses illegally.

[edit] School bus stop laws in other countries

Belgium and Germany require traffic to pass stopped school buses at very slow speeds that allow for quick stopping. Japan, Taiwan, and the United Kingdom ask drivers to pass stopped school buses carefully. The speed limit is 40 km/h in Australia and 20 km/h in New Zealand when passing a stopped school bus. In New Zealand, the Land Transport Safety Authority decided that the speed limit passing a stopped school bus should not be raised based on probabilities of pedestrian deaths if hit at different speeds, nor has it supported requiring fully stopping and waiting for school buses loading and unloading children as in the United States and Canada. Traffic laws in these countries do mention school buses, but none of them require traffic to stop in the same way as in North America.

[edit] Arguments for fully stopping and waiting for school buses loading and unloading children

In addition to reasons described in School bus#Protecting school children loading and unloading, major arguments used by those, usually inside the United States and Canada, for fully stopping and waiting for school buses loading and unloading children include that:

  • Children may dart out, such as to chase paper blown by wind, so traffic must stop and wait as a precautionary measure.
  • Children expect traffic to stop.
  • The stopping requirement reduces exposure of motorists to risk of liability for negligence in striking a child who cannot be held as negligent under civil law.
  • Allowing traffic to pass stopped school buses at any speed, even at very slow speed that allow quick stop, may encourage speeding by. (This argument is similar to some claims that as many drivers in the USA do not stop fully at red lights before making legal right turns, permitting right turn on red light may cause more hazards so it should be banned.)

Those for fully stopping and waiting for school buses loading and unloading children may consider passing stopped school buses illegally a kind of reckless driving or aggressive driving. However, those against fully stopping and waiting for school buses loading and unloading children also have their arguments to fight back as well.

[edit] Arguments against fully stopping and waiting for school buses loading and unloading children

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Major arguments used by those, whether inside or outside the United States and Canada, against fully stopping and waiting for school buses loading and unloading children include that:

  • As too many vehicles already pass stopped school buses illegally but convicting them is getting too difficult, current school bus stop laws are functionally obsolete, collapsing, and hardly enforceable, so they will require total reconsideration, reevaluation, and radical changes. Otherwise, children may receive very bad images of nearly unstoppable law breaking and eventually copy these technically illegal actions when they become licensed drivers.
  • Requiring traffic to pass stopped school buses at a very slow speed that allow quick stop should be better acceptable without increasing risks to children. (This is the law in Belgium and Germany.)
  • Requiring traffic to stop and wait for stopped school bus next to a green light causes major confusion and conflict. (This is why certain places prohibit school buses from flashing red lights next to a working traffic light.)
  • Requiring traffic to stop and wait for stopped school bus on fast or wide roads may increase hazard and public distrust, especially when a vehicle is at least 3 m (the typical width of a traffic lane) from the school bus.
  • Children should be better educated to be more careful on the roads, but they should not get false sense of safety and protection due to requiring traffic to stop for their getting on or off school buses. (This is why the stopping requirement in American and Canadian school bus stop laws is considered unpopular for adoption in the United Kingdom where the Highway Code Rule 185 asks drivers to pass carefully a stopped school bus with markings of a school bus.
  • The police should better direct traffic to stop to better protect any children on a roadway or to go past a stopped school bus when clear instead of wasting resources to enforce hardly enforceable school bus stop law.

Those against fully stopping and waiting for school buses loading and unloading children may consider passing stopped school buses illegally a kind of civil disobedience, especially when and where violations frequently occur and conviction rates are low.

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