school bus reds scenario

I also support their use. Too many near misses with motorists passing school busses these days. My neighbors daughter was almost run down last year by someone illegally passing a buss. The driver was too busy with the other kids to get the license plate#.

However, laws are needed specific to their use so as to eliminate these gray areas.

I know a bus driver in the Philly northwest suburbs and on his bus the change from yellow to red is automatic. He thought but wasn’t positive that once he flipped the switch to on, the change from yellow to red occurred around 5 mph. He also mentioned that school buses have yellow hazard lights but these are not mounted on the roof, so called “overhead” lights. Blinking hazard lights (always yellow and not overhead) allow you to pass but with extreme caution.

Quoting from https://www.psp.pa.gov/public-safety/Pages/School-Bus-Safety...

Tips for Motorists

Yellow flashing lights on the bus indicate the bus is getting ready to stop and load or unload. Slow down and get ready to stop.

Red flashing lights and a stop signal arm indicate that the bus has stopped and that children are getting on or off. You must stop your vehicle at least 10 feet before reaching the school bus. You may not proceed until the flashing red signal lights are no long activated.

You can be fined $250 for each violation when improperly meeting or overtaking a school bus. Additionally, a conviction will result in a 60-day driver’s license suspension and assessment of 5 points on the operator’s driving record.

Please obey all posted speed limits; especially in school zones, where the penalties for speeding are enhanced.

On my bus, (VA) the yellows are a manual switch. once activated the Reds will com on when the Open Door Switch is activated.

Stop arm cameras activate when the stop arm is activated. The common set up is to face forward and catch passing and on-common traffic. VA is a two license state.

I've seen some setups on Blue Bridge buses that the camera is two cameras, one facing forward and one to the back. Either one can get that rear only license plate.

This is what I was taught when getting my license, Still see people not stopping or hurrying to pass when the yellow lights come on.

Utah School Bus Laws
If a school bus is displaying alternating flashing red light signals, visible from the front or rear you need to stop immediately before reaching the bus. Do not proceed until the flashing red lights stop.

If you are traveling on a divided highway having four or more lanes with a median separating the traffic, it is only necessary for the vehicles traveling in both lanes behind the school bus to stop, and not the traffic traveling in the opposite direction. If you are traveling on a two-lane roadway, traffic in both directions are required to stop. If you are traveling on a four-lane roadway without a median, traffic in both directions are required to stop. If you are traveling on a highway having five or more lanes and having a shared center turn lane, it is only required for the vehicle in both lanes behind the school bus to come to a complete stop. Vehicles traveling in the opposite direction are not legally required to stop.

In Alabama, all lanes must stop, regardless of there is a physical decider. Many a trucker has been burnt on the interstate

that the bus' lights activation is logically laid out for the driver, so there must have been a malfunction for my son's bus to be driving up the road with red lights the whole time. Well I mean that from the time the driver would have normally activated the yellows.

And what I also meant when I said the cars nearest the rear of the bus, they were traveling the opposite direction. So the fact that they remained stopped after the fact, they were probably spooked as I would have been, thinking that I somehow kept going through a bus' reds. And the fact that they remained stopped after the fact, tells me they likely have integrity and did not want to do anything wrong.

School buses stop on an interstate? I've never seen that.

Think I misspoke on that. 4 lane divides highways.