Ticket for not stopping for a school bus

[Anonymous]

I've got a $250 ticket for not stopping for a school bus.

Here is the situation:

There was a road with two lanes on the other side and one lane on my side.

A school bus was stopping on the other side without flashing.

Since a bus was not flashing, cars were going by on both sides at a regular speed (since there was two lanes on the other side, a school bus was not blocking the other side of the road).

Right when I was passing by, the bus started flushing with the stop sign.

If I had slammed my break hard, I was able to stop. But if there were cars behind me, there was some decent chance that it would have caused an accident.

If there was an accident, I would have blamed for stopping so abruptly and would have been probably partially responsible for the accident.

In reality, there was no car behind me, but I wouldn't have known that right when the flash light came on and I had to make a choice whether to slam the break.

The only way to contest seem to be to appear in the court. So I am thinking of just paying $250.

If anybody have similar experience, would you please share?

I guess I would be super cautious around school buses in the future, even when it seems just sitting there forever, and cars behind me might honk for slowing down.

[Anonymous]

That stinks sorry.

[Anonymous]

I got a ticket years ago for not stopping for a school bus on Georgia Avenue in Silver Spring during rush hour. Six lanes of traffic. I didn’t even see it and no one else stopped.

I appealed it and went to court. The fine was reduced from $500 to $100 and I got a probation before judgment.

It is worth appealing.

[Anonymous]

"I guess I would be super cautious around school buses in the future, even when it seems just sitting there forever, and cars behind me might honk for slowing down. "

The above is exactly what you should do! Glad you learned a valuable lesson, sorry it cost you $250. You should just pay it because you were in the wrong.

[Anonymous]

Pay the fine and slow down when you see a school bus stopped on the road next time, OP.

[Anonymous]

Any time you see a school bus you should be watching it to be prepared for when it stops. There is no reason for the stop sign to have caught you off guard if you were aware of your surroundings when driving. Just pay it.

[Anonymous]

I got one for "passing" a school bus on the other side of a two lane road with a 30ft wide grass median with creek running down the middle of it! There was no possible way a kid could've gotten from the bus to in front of my car without getting in the creek up to his knees. Still got a ticket though.


It's a scam. Just like speed cameras.

[Anonymous]

You got a ticket because you put kids in danger. You saw the bus, you knew the lights were about to flash and you used the “well everyone else is doing it”’ excuse to drive by at a dangerous speed. You should have gone slow enough to stop safely. Yes it’s sucks but be glad it is only a ticket and not you running over a kid.

Sorry but I have seen an entire street of cars ignore an ambulance because everyone else was. Use your own common sense.

[Anonymous]

There was a long thread about the ticketing last week:

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/778842.page

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I got one for "passing" a school bus on the other side of a two lane road with a 30ft wide grass median with creek running down the middle of it! There was no possible way a kid could've gotten from the bus to in front of my car without getting in the creek up to his knees. Still got a ticket though.


It's a scam. Just like speed cameras.

Same. Pissed me off. $250. I’m appealing it.

[Anonymous]

Don't they flash yellow before flashing red? You should have had time to stop...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Don't they flash yellow before flashing red? You should have had time to stop...

OP, here. That might be very true. Okay, I deserve the ticket. I will pay now. Thank you.

[Anonymous]

It's a scam. Just like speed cameras.

Yes, I hate those scams that are meant to keep people safer, especially when it is children they’re trying to keep safer!

[Anonymous]

I feel your pain. I was rear ended once when i stopped for a bus. I was traveling in the same direction and knew to slow down. The bus stopped abruptly and flipped out the sign without much warning (aside from the fact it existed) but I anticipated that possibility and stopped. The woman behind me didn’t. Her car was totaled whereas my Subaru had a scratch on the bumper and the catalytic converter fell off. I barely knew I was hit. I was mad at the bus driver for not pulling over when there was a large parking area where she could have pulled over rather than impeding the flow of traffic. Your concern about the prospect of causing an accident is valid, but ultimately you’re responsible for stopping for a school bus. I did not receive any type of citation for stopping and I have no idea if the lady who hit me did or not. I told the police it was the bus drivers fault.

[Anonymous]

Go to court