If there’s a school bus moving in the opposite direction, you’re supposed to stop if it stops. Blinking red lights and stop sign goes up. But what if there’s a really wide median in between you and the bus? Do you still stop?
Luckily I made it past the bus before it stopped, but I just wondered what I should have done? Would I have gotten ticketed? The people behind me didn’t stop but I think they should have.
I tried to link to a photo of it but couldn’t find one.
IIRC If there is a physical barrier, then you don’t have to stop. If there isn’t, then you have to stop.
It depends on what state you’re in.
In Texas, you don’t have to stop if you’re on the other side of the median:
Totally depends on your state. I learned to drive (and currently drive) in Georgia, where if there is a median we don’t have to stop… However, I lived in New York state for a few years finishing up school, where I got a warning because I passed a school bus stopped on the other side of a median. (Luckily the cop saw my GA license and just gave me a warning… he would have ticketed me if I had an in state license).
So, totally depends on the state, check your local laws.
“Roadway” is defined in section 541.302 of the Texas Transportation Code as “the portion of a highway, other than the berm or shoulder, that is improved, designed, or ordinarily used for vehicular travel”. Consequently, if the two sides of the highway are separated by something that you can’t drive over (or through) that’s two roadways. But if they are separated by a level surface that you can drive over, e.g., to make a left turn, or to enter a property on the left side of the highway, then that’s one roadway.
And in Ohio we don’t have to stop if we’re going the other way and the road has four or more lanes, even if there’s no median.
As best I understand it, this is the law in California too.
Related question: When do you have to stop when there’s a pedestrian in the street in front of you? Apparently, this rule too differs from state to state. (I love the implication in this question that in some states, it’s okay to plow right through pedestrians! 
)
In California, again as best I understand it, the rule is the same as stopping for a school bus: If pedestrian is on the other side of a divided road, or on the other side of an undivided four-lane road, you don’t have to stop. Otherwise, you have to stop.
In Oregon, the rule is: You have to stop if there’s a pedestrian in front of you, in the same lane you are in, or one lane to the left or right of that.
It’s been a while since I took any formal driver training, but…
In several provinces in Canada, my understanding is that the other side does not have to stop on a divided roadway - i.e. curbing or grass median or similar obstacle (as mentioned, a painted center turn lane or such does not count as “divided”.)
For pedestrian crossings - if it’s marked, same rule - you must stop for people crossing, proceed when they reach the dividing median or side curb; or when they are across, for an undivided road.
But if there’s a median and the pedestrian is on the other side of the median, you don’t have to yield, even if they are only a few feet away from your car (in Oregon). Also, you only have to yield if they are at an intersection, not if they’re in the middle of a block (again, in Oregon).
North Carolina drivers need visual aids, bless their hearts…
I have had this discussion with my nephew a school bus driver and dispatcher, in California. According to him if the speed limit on the divided road is below 55 MPH no matter how many lanes when the stop sign and red light come on you are required to stop. Both sides of the road.
In the morning my wife and I travel on a road with 3 lanes each way with a 40 MPH speed limit, and very often there are school buss on the road with us. If we see the bus stopping she will change into one of the inside lanes, but we do not stop. If we did there would be an accident. The traffic is to fast and thick for an unexpected stop.
Ditto Illinois.
In fact, some of our crosswalks have those yellow lights hanging across them. Push a button, wait for the flashing lights, then walk. Where there is a curb median, even only two feet wide, the two sides are on separate buttons; the pedestrian has to reach the middle, push the button there to activate the lights for the other side.
Interesting - In the UK, we don’t stop for school busses at all (unless we are stuck behind one). In fact they usually do not have anything identifying them as such, possibly a sign in the window, but that’s it.
We are not allowed to mow the little blighters down though…
I think I recall the laws were created in the US was because there was a rash of deaths occurring where kids would exit the bus and try to cross the street in front of the bus but if a car was driving in the left lane behind the bus the driver couldn’t see the kid until it was too late. I think that was late 80’s or early 90’s.
I wonder if the law might actually have a negative impact. Kids get used to the traffic stopping, then get into difficulties when they are not on a school bus.
I remember a survey (which I can’t find) which showed that kids who lived in no-through-roads, were less traffic aware than kids who lived on ordinary streets.
Your nephew may want to read the current law that appears to have been in effect since 1999:
V C Section 22454 Schoolbus Meeting and Passing
**(b) (1) The driver of a vehicle upon a divided highway or multiple-lane highway need not stop upon meeting or passing a schoolbus that is upon the other roadway.
(2) For the purposes of this subdivision, a multiple-lane highway is any highway that has two or more lanes of travel in each direction. **
(bolding mine)
In Maryland there has to be a raised median. I got a ticket a few years back because I didn’t know wheat the state law was.
The laws were created long before the 80s or 90s. I learned to drive in the 60s and you had to stop then at least in Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, New York, and Massachusetts. I’d be quite surprised if you had to stop in at least most of the states in the US.
When I was in elementary school the buses in California had the red lights. That was in the 1950’s