Railroad Crossings and School Buses
This domain tests the two situations where the law takes judgment away from you: you must stop at a railroad crossing when the rules say so, and you must stop for a school bus loading or unloading children. Both carry heavy penalties and both appear frequently on the DC exam.
Railroad crossings
- Vehicles that must always stop: school buses carrying students, placarded hazardous materials loads, and other CMVs required by regulation. Stop between 15 and 50 feet from the nearest rail.
- Turn off the radio and fan, open the window, and look and listen in both directions before proceeding.
- Never shift gears while crossing; pick a gear that takes you all the way over.
- Check that the far side has room for your entire vehicle before you start across. Do not stop on the tracks.
- Double tracks hide trains: one train passing can mask a second one coming the other way.
- If you stall on the tracks, get everyone out and move away at an angle toward the approaching train, then call for help using the number on the blue Emergency Notification sign.
School buses
- When a school bus has red lights flashing on an undivided road, traffic in both directions must stop and stay stopped until the lights go off.
- On a divided highway with a median or physical barrier, traffic on the opposite side does not have to stop.
- Watch for children in the danger zone around the bus - roughly 10 feet in every direction - and for children who run back across the road.
Worked example
A placarded chlorine load approaches a crossing with flashing red lights and a gate. Reasoning: the load is placarded, so a stop is mandatory - between 15 and 50 feet from the nearest rail - even though the gate and lights already warn traffic. The driver stops short of the gate, looks and listens, confirms the far side has room for the whole vehicle, and crosses without shifting.
Traps
- Stopping closer than 15 feet or farther than 50 feet from the rail.
- Stopping for a school bus on the opposite side of a divided highway, or failing to stop on an undivided one.
- Assuming a gate guarantees no train is coming.