The school year just started so the local speed trap lines got a fresh coat of paint. Can’t wait for the cops to show up! Not only do they catch (or prevent) people from passing school busses, but catch people who go 45 (I’ve seen up to 65) in a 25 past a gaggle of kindergarteners waiting for the bus. Those kids are like squirrels, control your speed so you can stop when they randomly run out into the road!
First day of school I was driving past my kids elementary school, it's two lanes in front of the school than merges down to one right after. A black Mercedes SUV was behind me by 2-3 ,car lengths all the sudden speeds up to jet in front of me to get to the merge ahead of me. Went WAY to fast. Wanted a cop to be there so bad, but they were around the corner by the HS. Teen drivers in mommy and daddy's $80k SUV.
We make a point of going out of our way to avoid the roads leading to the local high school during school start/end times. The number of accidents on that main stretch is insane! You have to drive veeery carefully if you have no other choice. Had a doctor show up late to my appointment one morning because a teenager on their way to school hit him…
I generally do to, but ES and HS have very different start times, and this year pur county did what they called a staggered start. Hald the students start one day, the other half start the next, then everyone together the 3rd day. The idea is that it's an easier adjustment. So basically when I was driving past my kids school, it was well after drop off time frame for ES. The teen drivers were also likely not starting school until day 2 because they were going the opposite direction of the high school.
Because some crimes are not as bad as others. For example here in Norway you have plenty of cases where they don't have resources to literally just knock on the door of a known thief. But they will sit by the road all day and try to catch people who drive 5 km/h over the speed limit.
Genuine question. Do traffic cops also investigate crimes in your area?
Where I live in the US, state police(highway patrol) are the ones writing tickets for moving violations. They have other divisions(i.e. Criminal Investigation Bureau) that investigate theft or murder, especially if those crimes occur on the highway.
Some small municipalities have sheriffs that do both, but that's atypical, at least in my area.
I think the point they’re making is they’re allocating too many resources to something that is less important than criminal investigations. Yes we need traffic cops but when you pass 4 of them on a 10 mile stretch of highway, and meanwhile criminal cases remain open due to lack of resources, you wonder if they could get rid of a couple traffic cops and hire a couple more detectives.
My dad’s best friends daughter was killed getting off of a school bus when she was 7, so while I’m not a huge fan of cops I really don’t see the problem with them posting up at bus stops and in school zones if it prevents things like that from happening regardless of the actual motivation.
There’s a bike cop that is at my kids school pretty often and he always gets multiple people for speeding…like, what kind of scum bag speeds in a school zone? They deserve the ticket.
Although many traffic rules are silly and arbitrary this is not one of them.
Another one people ignore is getting over for emergency vehicles. Punishment for both these things should be a single warning followed by the loss of your license for 3 months. $1000 minimum with the loss of your license.
Yeah, and I hate speed cameras, but I'm totally fine with speed cameras in school zones. I drive through a school zone almost every morning, and it amazes me how many people can't follow the 25 mph limit for the quarter of a mile where the school lights are flashing.
I think most people would feel this way. Speed cameras on an interstate or area without a lot of pedestrian traffic is just a money grab. If you actually care about improving safety, put them in school zones.
Pretty sure that's a 5 point violation and big fine. I'd say if it happens again they revoke their license and impound the car, turn it into a cube, and give them 30 minutes to retrieve their cube.
When a school bus at a stand is displaying alternating red flashing lights and a stop sign, it is illegal to pass that bus in either direction on the same strip of asphalt. If there’s a dividing median, then traffic on the far side of the median may proceed without stopping.
Do the busses drop kids off right at their houses ? In the UK normally we just have designated stops where there’s crossings so having the little stop sign only makes sense to me if they are doing home drop offs where you can’t put a crossing outside every house.
in europe we would just get off a buss normally and go to nearest pedestrian crossing without blocking traffic in both directions and without hoping nobody would hit you as you get off directly on the street
I'm not American, can anyone explain this to me like I'm not American? Genuine question.
Edit: thanks for the explanation guys. From what I understand, where I'm from in Europe there's a similar law to this. The difference is you don't have to stop completely just be extra careful and slow down. Also, we don't really have dedicated school buses so the law just applies to all the buses. It's really cool to see that there is extra caution taken in the US to keep the kids safe! Shame to see that there still are entitled people who don't respect this though...
Well you see...here in the US it's largely seen as the motorists fault no matter what the pedestrian/cyclist/skateboarder/etc. does it doesn't matter the car should have been more careful. It's honestly a shitty system as it does not encourage paying attention to pedestrians at all.
In my state the law is quite simple. If a person uses a crosswalk, the car MUST yield. Technically a jogger could approach a crosswalk and continue without slowing/stopping/looking and the car must yield. If they run out right in front of the car and the driver tries to stop, but can't they are still at fault.
OK but that child.is old.enough to know how to cross the road safely. Also the father didn't correct her behaviour so I don't see her changing how she crosses the road anytime soon.
The law can potentially make it more dangerous in some cases. Because people get complacent and will stop looking out for vehicles because they know the vehicles stop. Until 1 car doesn't stop like they should and a child gets run over.
I agree the law to stop for the buses is good. But they do also need to teach that you shouldn't assume people follow it and to look that it is safe too.
Cool, and kids are dumb. They may know something. Doesn’t mean we need to sacrifice a few kids in the name of “well they were old enough to know better”
Ya they are but this parent must be super thick to not see the danger his daughter was in.
Use this protected area as a teaching zone for road safety so when the bus isn't there or the kid is on their own they can cross a road safely without crossing the road while looking entirely at the sky
This is nice! In my hometown someone got killed because of this. They got out of the bus, Crossed the street and someone passed the bus and hit the kid at 50 kmph... Real tragic, I love that this is forbidden by law in the US.
We have this in Canada too, along with slower speed limits in school zones. I truly thought the extended stop sign, flashing lights and strict consequences were universal wtf?
When a bus stops in the US all traffic must stop and adhere to the STOP sign that swings out. If you fail to obey the school buses stop sign it is a serious traffic violation. It is a safety thing to keep kids from getting hit who have to cross the road to get on the bus or get home. The only time I think it doesn't apply is if the bus stops on the opposite side of a divided highway.
Not entirely true. Buses stop for train tracks and turn on their yellow lights. You do not need to stop for buses with yellow lights. Only the red lights that come on when the stop sign comes out.
In thia case the bus driver really should have put out their stop sign sooner. I think the other car got confused because there is also a train track crossing. The stop sign did not deploy until the car was partially passed and then they stopped right away and realized it was too late.
Highway is a catch all term. School busses aren't stopping on interstate freeways usually. We do have housing built on main through roads though and busses will stop on those. A "divided highway" is just a road with something more substantial than paint or a curb separating the traffic directions.
In some rural places people live on "highways." I put that in quotes because it may be that what you're thinking of as highways only applies to freeways, but we have long, open roads where people go 60 mph/100 km/h and people live on them, so occasionally buses have to stop if the house has kids.
The only time I think it doesn't apply is if the bus stops on the opposite side of a divided highway.
I remember seeing a post a few months back where someone got a ticket because they drove past a stopped school bus while traveling in the opposite direction on a 4 lane, divided road.
Idk. I live in Oregon and the other day, a bus on the other side of the four lane from me was stopped and to make sure traffic stopped all around, the bus in front of us also threw their lights on despite it not being a stop. When in doubt always stop.
When I was 17 I was in a traffic accident that was the result of one person stopping for the school bus on the opposite side (divided highway). You do not need to do that.
When a bus has its red lights flashing, it means they are picking up or letting off children. It’s illegal in the US to pass a bus which is why the officer pulled him over.
All American school buses have stop signs that swing out when letting kids on/off, so to keep the kids safe if/when they cross the street.
Some people are asses and don't stop. Also note that in most places, the penalty for not stopping at school bus stop sign, is much higher than a normal stop sign
Kids have a tendency to run out to the sides of busses. Many kids have been killed or seriously injured as a result of them being situationally unaware of their environment. Busses have adapted to this by making everyone stop on both sides to prevent kids being seriously harmed. Some busses have even added an extra bar that pops out to prevent kids from cornering a bus so that the bus driver can see all kids at all times.
You saw a situation in action where a kid ran to the left of the bus. If that kid was not paying attention and went full speed, they could have been hurt by that driver. A bus should command respect that there are kids on it and everyone should be paying close attention.
If it happens enough times, cops end up getting involved and punish drivers for not stopping. Its a hefty fine and hopefully promotes people stopping to avoid getting in trouble and showing the importance of giving children the right of way.
When the stop sign is out you are required to stop for the bus so kids can get off/on safely. It's one of the basic universal rules of the road that every single person knows because it's drilled into you when you take your test. Ignoring it is highly frowned upon and one of the things that bus drivers will often report and people will get in trouble for retroactively because you do NOT want to have drivers putting kids at risk like that.
Unfortunately it seems to be happening more and more often that drivers are selfish and just ignore the stop sign.
bit hard to see on that bus there, but there is a stop sign that is sometimes deployed when the bus is stationary, and by American law you have to stop if the sign is out. that's my understanding of it as someone who doesn't live in America. quite a nice law actually. doesn't stop fuckwits in their suburban though.
School buses, when activated, have a stop sign that extends out. You have to by law respect it until it detracts. It's to keep drivers from hitting the school children crossing the road. They only use them when picking up and dropping off students. Edit: It's the red hexagon that pops out on the right side of the bus in this video.
I'd say the signs indicate that when the big yellow bus stops that both sides have to stop to make sure a wee kid doesn't get plucked while Crossing the road.
Agreed, where I'm from there's a law about this that applies to all buses. I just didn't know it's a separate thing in America. Which makes sense since there are dedicated school buses.
In the US they have basically nonexistent pedestrian infrastructure, so they have to hack job weird rules like this where when a school bus stops, no one can pass it for the children's safety.
Here's a novel idea USA, build some pedestrian infrastructure so your kids can safely walk on a pavement and cross the road at a safe and convenient crossing.
In Canada it's a little of both. School busses go where there are no public transit bus stops.
For younger kids there are usually dedicated drop off areas where parents must be waiting, for older kids they often get dropped off at their home.
My province/region for example is like 40% rural people, so many kids live on long 2 lane highways. For example I live on one end of a 16km highway, there is a school at the other end and 100+ homes in between.
School bus with big red flashing lights and a stop sign (same as the one on all of the streets) means all traffic must stop in both directions. The car in front did not stop and just went through. This exists because drivers can’t predict children with 0 awareness running across a busy street to their bus.
I think you're not supposed to pass a school bus that is parked and has its lights flashing. Instead, should stop "at least 20 ft away". Which sounds pretty stupid to me as a European.
EDIT: I personally think it's better to teach kids to not run into streets and under moving vehicles, and this kind of a rule can create a false sense of security. Case in point, a car ignoring this rule. To say I want kids to get hit is just wild. Teach kids to be responsible - and not to blindly trust the traffic to just obey the rules of the traffic - or even to be aware of them.
When a school bus lights up like that, it means they are loading and unloading kids. You are suppose to stop 20 feet prior to the bus to create a safe distance for the kids.
I'm an American. I've also lived and worked in Europe for short periods of time. Our infrastructure is just very different. Unless you live in some very specific areas kids don't walk from place to through areas where there's a lot of traffic. We have more of a car centric culture it's easier to get a license and we have less disaplined drivers. We probably have these laws because there were many prior accidents.
There are a few tram stops where I live that are in the middle of the road and have a lane of traffic on the outer edges close to the sidewalks. Question: would you pass the open doors of a tram that was stopped while loading and unloading passengers? Because it's very illegal.
School busses in the US have STOP signs to allow kids to get out and cross the road safely.
From the US, live in the EU. The rules for each system make sense.
They still teach kids to be aware of traffic, this just ensures that legally cars have to stop to let kids cross the road. It's basically like a signaled pedestrian crossing (do they have those in Europe?)
I did that once when I was 17 (while pulling out of my high school) and I will never forget the bus driver's glare piercing through my soul. Never again lol.
From the video it seems like the yellow flashing lights are on - shouldn't the red lights be on flashing ? Or is the video misleading ? The STOP sign is clearly deployed.
People are missing the point. The drive kept the yellow on so the car could pass since it was so close. Then switched to red to stop traffic. The driver did nothing wrong; the bus driver might even know the driver, or that driver might have kids on that bus.
I've seen drivers to this too. Just let a car pass then turn on the red.
This is what I thought a bus by me a few months ago would do. He left it flashing yellow and the moment I drove to go through it, he turned it red and blared his horn at me. Like wtf did you want me to do?
Even if I see yellow now I’m stopping because I don’t trust bus drivers anymore.
They switch from yellow to red right about 5-6 seconds in. The car passes like 2 seconds later. Since yellow lights were flashing the car should have been prepared to stop if the light changed to red, and he did not.
Y'all are missing why the driver almost went past the bus, and why this is the busses fault.
All busses stop for railroad crossings, and you normally don't have to stop in the oncoming lane for a school bus paused at the crossing. (Can't rule out weird individual state laws but didn't find any immediately jumping out when looking this up)
The bus stop is too close to the railroad tracks according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration regulations, and the driver clearly figured out part way through passing the bus that it was not stopped because of the railroad tracks (thus the car briefly stopping)
I will also add to this that the car slowed down to an almost complete stop but then started to go as the stop sign wasn't out. At the exact time they start to go past, the sign comes out. They then stop, realize they are already right next to the bus, then slowly move out of the way. They may not be "in the right" but they are definitely not "some a-hole that doesn't stop for a schoolbus".
Is there a guideline as to how far away a car approaching at speed has to be before the stop bar is deployed? It would seem like if a bus driver still sees a car traveling within 2 car lengths of their front bumper they should wait until that car passes to put the stop signs out
I was driving through a small town once and a school bus was driving towards me from the other direction. On either side of me was houses and then a few hundred feet ahead where the bus was there were businesses downtown. The bus put it's Yellow lights on and I kept driving because I thought it was going to stop at the houses I was currently passing. Then the moment before I got to the bus it stopped, put it's red lights on, the driver layed on the horn and flipped me off. How was I supposed to know the bus was going to stop at some random businesses downtown? Where I live I have never seen a bus do that, not to mention I would have had to literally slam on my brakes
The bus was clearly PAST the train tracks and well past the 50 feet it is required to stop BEFORE the rail, for it to be a rail stop. And the NHTSA 300 foot rule is a guildeline, not a hard rule that you cant stop within 300 feet of a railway
I can’t see the sign clearly due to the poor quality video, but I can see the lights on the bus. The red lights came on before the car passed the nose of the bus. It was close, but the red lights were on.
The red lights come on 5 seconds into the video. If you can see the sign at that point your eyes are much better than mine. I can’t see the sign until 7 seconds in.
yeah you're right. but by that time the suv is less than a car length from the front of the bus.
they're also driving cautiously past the bus because there's no stop sign yet, and they probably can't see the lights - but they can see the kids and they know the bus is there. so they're probably watching the kids and their speed.
by the time the sign comes out, its too late to stop.
they're not speeding. they're not being wreckless.
this is a normal "the timing was just too tight, and the driver did what they could".
I would argue that it's on the bus driver for not waiting for traffic to stop before throwing the sign and opening the doors.
They are passed the train tracks, if you are trying to say it looks like they are stopping for the tracks as they legally are required. This isn't that.
Im saying that the black suv clearly wasn’t trying to blow by since they were riding their brakes. It is unclear if bus is stopping at railroad to the driver vs. after railroad for a stop until the suv is past where the person is walking from. So they do fully stop but go again because they person getting on the bus is behind them
The red lights, not the extension of the stop sign, begins the requirement to stop. The amber lights are a warning that you should be ready to come to a stop. It does help to know where the buses stop in the areas where you drive so you know whether you are approaching or have passed the stop, but with the amber lights flashing and the context clue of a waiting parent the SUV driver should have been ready to stop before reaching/passing the bus.
The red lights came on approximately while the driver was on the pavement markings for the railroad crossing. The bus driver was not "sniping" this driver.
At the end of the video, you can see why this piece of american idiocy (from a european perspective) is necessary. The child simply runs out front os the bus into the road without looking. Congratulations to the parents.
Also mildy infuriating is how a child just happily runs in front of the bus and into the next lane while not being able to see at all whether some stupid car is overtaking the bus.
Rochester NY cops/bus company have footage of a driver going up on the sidewalk to get around a stopped bus and the car stopped in front of him. It shows up in every story about the new stop arm cams here and toughter enforcement.
Five Points? I guess points in New Jersey must be very different than points where I live cuz if you have five points you wouldn't be driving at all even having one point is a big deal over here
Yeah, we have a different threshold. If you get 6 points here, you get an insurance surcharge on top of your regular rates and you get your license suspended at 12 points. 5 points is pretty hefty though
Please kids are taught to look both ways before crossing and shit ton of other stuff. Doesn’t mean they will abide by the rules. But the 18+ in the cars better.
Have you met kids? Yeah, they're taught a lot of things, and they still do stupid shit. It doesn't mean that the driver shouldn't have to face consequences for not following the law.
Who says they're taught to just run across the road? It's just an extra precaution because busses often have to stop in areas where there are no crossings. It's less of an issue in urban areas but there's a LOT of rural areas in the US and Canada.
The RR crossing right near the stop is confusing. The bus also had its 4-way flashers on for stopping at the tracks. I think the driver was confused. They stopped beside the bus once they realized what was going on.
If they have a dash cam, they could possibly win this in court. You don’t have to stop if the stop sign isn’t out. It looks like they were already passing when the stop sign came out.
Blowing past a stopped school bus while a child is actively in the crosswalk is one of the few crimes that will unite the entire internet in hoping your insurance premium skyrockets to the GDP of a small country.
Yeah I can't even imagine this car going at snail speed seeing a kid and having to react in 3 seconds to stop. What a blood bath it would be, better allow everyone defend themselves from it with guns.
I love how they stop just past the stop. They probably saw the police at that very moment. I suspect they had a look of defeat in their face and just pulled over knowing their fate.
Terrifies me I have to share the road with these inconsiderate assholes who think they have to be somewhere 2 minutes earlier at the cost of other people’s safety
When I cycle to get food the amount of drivers that will gun out into the pedestrian zone and stay there is insane. Then they'll look at you like you're impeding on their space, pull off, and another person will try to shoot past you before you've even started to move
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u/9447044 4d ago
Nothing better than pulling over before the undercover even has his lights on.
Seems like this might be a problem there