The School Bus and the Divided Highway
You are driving on a four-lane highway with a raised concrete median separating the two directions. Ahead, on your side of the road, a school bus has stopped with its red lights flashing and its stop arm extended. Children are not yet visible. In the oncoming lanes across the median, another driver continues past without stopping. You are in the right lane about 100 feet back, with a car close behind you.
1. Must you stop, and must the oncoming driver across the median stop?
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You must stop. When a school bus has its red lights flashing and stop arm out on your side of the road, traffic traveling in the same direction must stop and remain stopped until the lights stop flashing and the arm retracts. The oncoming driver across a raised median on a divided highway is generally not required to stop, because the median separates the directions of travel. The rule turns on whether the roadway is divided by a physical median, not on how many lanes there are.
2. The car behind you is close. How do you handle the stop safely?
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Signal early and brake gradually so the following driver has time to react, and come to a full stop well back from the bus - leave room so children have a clear, safe path. Do not wave children across or motion them to hurry. If the car behind is tailgating, the gradual, predictable stop is your best protection; sudden braking invites a rear-end collision. Stay stopped until the red lights cease, even if it takes a while.
3. Children aren't visible yet - may you proceed once the arm starts to retract?
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No. Remain stopped until the red lights stop flashing and the stop arm is withdrawn. Children can be delayed, can dart back, or can be out of your line of sight behind the bus. The retracting arm is not the signal to go; the lights going off is. Proceeding early risks striking a child you never saw.