Back to school means back to watching out for buses, schoolkids

    It’s that time of year when the trees lose their leaves and parents lose their kids to the school system. This means we have kids all over the place going to school along with other activities and that means we need to be more careful out there when driving, particularly around school buses.
    We’ve all seen those big yellow school buses with the red flashing lights and the stop sign that extends out of the left side. Today we look at what you should do when you see those all so important lights.
    First, let’s look at how buses operate. When making a stop, buses should try to stop as far right of the roadway as possible to reduce obstruction to traffic. The alternating flashing yellow lights you see when the bus is moving need to be turned on at least 200 feet prior to the point where the bus is planning to stop. This doesn’t mean you should quickly try to pass the bus when you see those come on. Drivers should also begin to slow. You have to remember kids also see those lights and sometimes run across the road to get to the bus. So please be patient and know it won’t take long to get the kids on or off the bus. When the yellow lights transition to the red lights is when the bus is stopped. This means everyone must also stop.  
    So here are the reasons a bus will activate its lights: whenever the school bus is stopped to load or unload schoolchildren, stopped because it is behind another school bus that is loading or unloading kids, or is stopped because it has met a school bus traveling in a different direction that is unloading or loading kids.
    A school bus driver carrying any schoolchild is also required before crossing any tracks of a railroad, to stop within 50 feet but not less than 15 feet from the nearest rail and shall not proceed until the driver can do so safely.
    So now, here’s the refresher on what to do when you come upon a school bus. If you are a driver on the road and come upon a bus from either direction that has stopped and its lights are activated, you need to stop your vehicle at least 20 feet before reaching the school bus.  After the kids are off or on the bus, you are not allowed to proceed until the signal lights are no longer on. So make sure no one starts to go just because they think they don’t see any more kids. You can only proceed driving again once the bus driver turns off the lights.

The full article is available in our e-Edition. Click here to subscribe.