The laws may be substantially similar everywhere, but the details differ from state to state (or province). Apparently one area of difference regards the rules for traffic coming from the opposite direction on the other side of the street.
In CA, I believe the law says: On a road of 4 or more lanes, or on a divided road, traffic on the other side of the road does not have to stop. In OR, the law seems to say that even in those cases, ALL traffic in BOTH directions must stop.
There are, similarly, differences in detail about the laws on stopping for pedestrians. While it seems universal that cars are supposed to stop for pedestrians who are crossing the street (even away from intersections or crosswalks, even if the pedestrian is crossing illegally), the details may be different from state to state.
In OR, I think the laws is: You must stop for a pedestrian in the street if the pedestrian is in your lane (directly in front of you) or in the lane immediately to the left or right of that lane. In CA, I think the law requires a driver to stop if a pedestrian is in the street in any lane (but I’m not sure if that applies if the pedestrian is on the other side of a divided road).
I always assume that some kid who is not paying attention is going to run out into the street right in front of me. I always stop, not matter which direction or how many lanes.
In my state, it’s illegal for bus drivers to drop students off where they’d need to cross a road with more than four lanes (since that traffic doesn’t have to stop), so it actually makes no more sense to stop in those situations than it does to stop every single time you see a pedestrian on the other side of the road.
Yes, a lot of places don’t have a lot of 6-lane or greater roads (without medians)- and when they do, those are not usually near a house where a student would get off - not particularly “residential”; and most apartments or similar have those driveways past the front door etc.