School Bus Across a Center Turn Lane, Then a No-Turn-on-Red Sign
You are westbound at 3:20 p.m. on a five-lane road: two through lanes each way plus a continuous two-way left-turn lane down the middle, posted 45 mph. Ahead on the eastbound side, a school bus stops, its red lights begin flashing, and the stop arm swings out; children step off the far curb and start crossing toward the bus door. A driver behind you taps the horn and edges left, as if to go around you. Ten minutes later, at a signalized intersection, you want to turn right. A NO TURN ON RED sign is mounted beside the signal, the light is red, and there is no cross traffic at all. A cyclist in the bike lane to your right has stopped at the limit line. Your passenger says the sign only applies during school hours.
1. Must you stop for the bus? Explain using the layout of this road.
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Yes. The exemption for opposite-direction traffic applies only when the two directions are separated by a physical barrier or a raised median - something that actually divides the roadway. A painted two-way left-turn lane is not a median and not a barrier; it is part of the paved roadway surface. On this five-lane configuration, the bus is on the opposite side of a center turn lane, so westbound traffic must stop just as eastbound traffic does, and stay stopped until the red lights stop flashing and the children are clear of the roadway. Passing a stopped school bus with its red lights on is one of the most heavily penalized violations in Georgia: six points, a fine up to $1,000, and a mandatory court appearance rather than a mail-in ticket. The honking driver behind you changes none of that. Your stop also protects children who may cross behind the bus.
2. The light is red, there is no cross traffic, and the sign reads NO TURN ON RED. What governs your right turn?
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The sign governs. A NO TURN ON RED sign is a regulatory sign, which means it removes the permission that the general right-turn-on-red rule would otherwise give you. It is not a suggestion, it is not time-limited unless the sign itself states hours, and it does not lapse because traffic is light. The general rule in Georgia allows a right turn after a full stop at a red light only when no sign prohibits it, and even then you must yield to pedestrians and to traffic, including the cyclist on your right. Here you wait for green. Your passenger's school-hours theory is wrong on its face: if the restriction applied only at certain times, the sign would carry a plaque saying so. When a regulatory sign and your own judgment about traffic conflict, the sign wins.
3. The driver behind you swings into the turn lane and accelerates past the stopped bus. What are the consequences for that driver, and what should you do?
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If that driver passes the bus while its red lights are flashing and the stop arm is out, they have committed a serious moving violation: six points on their license, a fine up to $1,000, and a required court appearance. The fact that they used the center turn lane does not create an exemption - the center lane is for preparing to turn, not for passing, and it certainly is not a legal bypass around a stopped school bus. Your job is to stay put and not follow. Remain stopped until the red lights go off and every child is out of the roadway, then proceed when your lane is clear. If the driver's move endangers a child, get the plate and description and report it; a witness account is often what makes a case when the bus driver cannot identify the vehicle.