Passing a Stopped School Bus

www.kisslinglaw.com

The penalties for passing a stopped school bus in North Carolina are quite severe.  Four Driving Points, Four Insurance Points.  This will cause most peoples insurance to double for the next three years.  Most District Attorneys will not reduce or dismiss the charge and the judge is precluded from granting a Prayer for Judgment Continued.  So what do you do if charged?  The best thing to do is plead not guilty and make the State prove their case.

The State must prove the following:

1.  The bus is used for transporting children to and from school on a regularly scheduled route.  So no activity buses.

2.  The bus must be primarily yellow and must say "School Bus" on the front and back at or near the roof line.

3.  The bus must have flashing red lights in the front and back.

4.  The bus must have a mechanical stop signal.

If you are given a ticket by an officer who saw you pass the bus, it will be hard for them to testify that the bus had flashing red lights on the front and back.  There is literally no viewing point where an officer could see you pass the bus and see the flashing red lights on both the front and back of the bus.

In addition, while you must stop if you are traveling the same direction as the bus, you do not have to stop if the bus is on the opposite side of the street, the street is two or more lanes in each direction and there is a center turn lane or physical barrier between the two different directions of travel. 

Furthermore, the bus driver cannot let out or accept children in the lane that is not closest to the curb.  As a result, it should not be possible for you to pass the bus on the right side of the bus.