School Zone, Crossing Guard, and a Bus on the Opposite Side
It is 7:50 a.m. on a Wednesday in a Pennsylvania borough. You are northbound on a four-lane road with a painted two-way left-turn lane in the center and no physical barrier. Ahead, a yellow-green five-sided sign shows two walking children, and beneath it a 15 MPH WHEN FLASHING plaque whose yellow lights are lit. A crossing guard in a fluorescent vest stands in the middle of the road with her stop paddle extended toward your direction. Roughly 200 feet beyond her, a southbound school bus has its red lights flashing and its stop arm out. Children are clustered on the sidewalk to your right but have not stepped into the crosswalk. The driver behind you is honking, and there is a line of parents' cars in the left lane. You are due at work in ten minutes.
1. What is your speed limit through this stretch, and what does the crossing guard's paddle require of you?
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Fifteen miles per hour while the lights flash. In Pennsylvania the school zone limit is 15 unless a different figure is posted, and the sign posts it here; the flashing lights mark when it is in force, and children on the sidewalk at 7:50 a.m. make the reason obvious.
The guard's extended paddle is the equivalent of a stop sign for your direction of travel. Stop before the crosswalk, not on it, and stay stopped until she lowers the paddle and signals you through. Her authority in that crosswalk outranks the honking behind you and your arrival time. Keep your foot on the brake and watch her hands, because she may hold traffic while a child she can see and you cannot finishes crossing; children arriving late often run.
2. The school bus across the road has its red lights on. Must you stop, given four lanes and a painted center lane?
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Yes. Pennsylvania requires traffic in both directions to stop for a school bus with red lights flashing and the stop arm extended on any roadway that is not divided by a physical barrier such as a raised median or concrete wall. A painted two-way left-turn lane is paint, not a barrier, so it does not create an exemption. The four-lane width changes nothing by itself.
Stop at least 10 feet from the bus, which in practice means well before its front bumper, and remain stopped until the red lights stop flashing and the stop arm folds back. Do not creep forward, and do not treat the guard's signal as permission to pass the bus. If a raised median had separated the directions, you would not be required to stop, but you would still slow down and watch for children crossing.
3. What does the shape and color of the school sign contribute here, and what applies once the yellow lights go out while children are still around?
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The five-sided shape is used only for school warning signs, so it is recognizable from behind and at a distance even before the symbol is legible. The fluorescent yellow-green color is reserved for school, pedestrian, and bicycle warnings, which is why it looks different from the plain yellow diamond used for curves and deer. Shape identifies the sign family; color narrows the hazard; the symbol and plaque give the detail.
When the lights stop flashing, the 15 mph posting no longer controls, and the ordinary posted limit resumes. The duty does not end there. Drivers must still yield to pedestrians in a crosswalk, must not pass a bus that is still displaying red lights, and must drive at a speed reasonable for children near the roadway. The clock on the plaque is not a license to resume full speed the moment the bulbs go dark if the crossing is still busy.