Stopping for school buses, or: yet another needless post
To stop or not to stop?
On my way to work yesterday, I observed a curious (and at the time a very frustrating) event. The road was a four lane city road (maybe if I call it an avenue it paints a clearer picture). There was a 2-3 foot long grassy median separating the two opposing sides of traffic, with two lanes in each direction.
There was a school bus, with its stop sign pulled out and its lights flashing on the other side of the road. And there, on my side, were about 15 cars. Stopping for the school bus on the other side of the road at 7:45am, when all the kids were obviously getting on to the bus.
So, as is my wont, I wondered out loud: “What the f is wrong with these people Must we stop for a school bus on the other side of the road?” I decided to don my deerstalker and do a little investigatin’.
Turns out there is a statute addressing this. Connecticut General Statutes Section 14-279 states:
(a) The operator of any [...] motor vehicle [...] shall immediately bring such vehicle to a stop not less than ten feet from the front when approaching and not less than ten feet from the rear when overtaking or following any registered school bus on any highway or private road or in any parking area or on any school property when such bus is displaying flashing red signal lights, except at the specific direction of a traffic officer…The operator of a vehicle upon a highway with separate roadways need not stop upon meeting or passing a school bus which is on a different roadway.
So the question, then, is whether a city “avenue” is a “highway”.
The answer is this:
(37) “Highway” includes any state or other public highway, road, street, avenue, alley, driveway, parkway or place, under the control of the state or any political subdivision of the state, dedicated, appropriated or opened to public travel or other use
It makes sense that you don’t have to stop. What’s the purpose of this statute? The annotations provide some guidance:
Evidences a legislative intent to create a safety zone within which school children can safely cross a street after alighting from a school bus. 180 Conn. 302.
Given that school buses will stop on both sides of any such road where there is a median, there was absolutely no risk that a child would be permitted to alight and attempt to cross such an avenue where there is heavy traffic. Obviously, no child would have been doing that yesterday morning, because it was morning and they were going to school.
So there we go. I was delayed for work by a bunch of idiots people who were not aware of this statute and hopefully now someone will let them now. Hopefully now you know and you don’t stop.
Obviously, I’m not advocating driving dangerously and if you are on a two-lane road with no median or on the same side as the bus, then you damn well better stop. But, if you’re, like on a highway with separate roadways, um, do the rest of us a favor.
You are completely wrong on this one. There is no gurantee that just because theer is a divider students will not be asked to cross the street. Moreover, even in the morning a student may be late for the bus and running to cross the street. The people who stopped – for what – a minute? had more sense than you – are you really in such a hurry to get to wotk?
Actually, it is my understanding that students are not permitted to cross the street. The bus will come to their side of the street. So, yes, there was no danger that anyone would be crossing the street.
Also, the statute does not require one to stop. That’s pretty clear.
So, no, I am not completely wrong. One may say it is common sense to stop, but that’s not what I’m talking about.
Is your understanding limited to one town – or are you sure that applies everywhere in CT?
It is my understanding of a few towns, but obviously I’m pretty sure that different towns have different rules.
However, if that were the case – that any time a school bus stops there is a risk that children will come running from all directions – then why is there a statute that permits drivers on the opposite side of the road to keep driving? Perhaps the problem isn’t the drivers of the cars, but the policies of the schools.
I think the confusion here is “separate roadways” – I don’t think a divider is enough to constitute seperate roadways – only a truly divided highway would have those.
Okay, so you’re saying that an avenue, with a 2-3 foot grassy median separating the two directions of traffic, with no crosswalks does not constitute “separate roadways”.
I don’t agree with that, but I can see how someone could arrive at that conclusion. There’s no definition of “separate roadway” in the statute. Maybe I’ll look up some caselaw.
A while back I was watching video lectures of “Why you should never talk to the police.” I think I got the link from here(?). One of the things that was pointed out is that there are so many laws that’s it essentially impossible for everyone to know what they are.
Given the choice between memorizing the CT code and stopping in an ambiguous situation — after, all it’s for the children — may of us are going to stop. (Sorry.)
In my town the bus routes are set to never require the elementary kids to cross in front of the bus — the bus goes up and down both sides of the street. So common sense would indicate no need to stop if the bus is going the other way that you are. Of course, that would be a statute violation. And surely you know of many other instances where common sense and legal are different, right?
I didn’t actually know about the 10 foot thing and have probably violated that from time to time. Good to know.
Lately it seems like most of the danger to small children is the buses themselves.