Sharing the Road with School Buses

Now that summer is winding up and many children are heading back to school I’ve noticed a lot more buses on the road. In fact, they seem to follow me around, which is no surprise considering over 480,000 busses operate daily nationwide carrying 26 million elementary school and secondary school students.

Since we are now sharing the road with so many of these oversized vehicles, it is important to understand how to drive properly when around them.

When the stop sign extends:

•  On a divided highway with a barrier or unpaved road separating the lanes, you may continue to drive if you are going in the opposite direction.
• On a two-lane road all vehicles are required to stop.
• On a multi-lane road, all vehicles must stop if a paved lane separates the lanes going in different directions.

Bus lights work like traffic lights:

• If the overhead lights flash yellow, be prepared to stop.
• If the overhead lights flash red, stop.
• When the hazard or warning lights are flashing, proceed with caution.

Whether or not you have to stop when the school bus stops, I recommend you always slow down and constantly examine your surroundings. Children can be unpredictable and dart out of nowhere and decreasing your speed is an easy way to increase your reaction time.

Following these extremely simple steps can make a huge difference in the number of children injured yearly. In 2011 there were 22 fatalities, 350-475 broken bones or worse, and 8,500-12,000 minor injuries like scrapes and bruises.

FYI: If potentially saving a child’s life is not enough motivation to stop when a school bus does, you should also know that if caught you can be fined, imprisoned, face a felony charge, and receive five points on your license.