Not Stopping for School Bus in Lane Opposite Double Yellow Line

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Just a PSA that if you encounter a stopped school bus with flashing red lights in Maryland, you must stop within 20 feet of the bus, even if you are on the opposite side of double yellow lines, where pedestrians cannot cross. I got a $250 ticket in the mail, as I didn't know what the rule was as I was approaching a busy four lane intersection and wasn't sure whether/when/where to stop.

Wait, what? There is no law saying that pedestrians are not allowed to cross a double yellow line.

When in doubt, STOP FOR THE SCHOOL BUS THAT HAS ITS RED LIGHTS ON.

I agree there isn't a law saying pedestrians are not allowed to cross a double yellow line, but in this spot, the crosswalk is about 25 feet away. You would be crossing four lanes of traffic, so you should cross at the crosswalk, not at the double yellow line area.

Yeah but they'll get you anyway. Same situation here. $500 ticket last year. I'd never gotten a ticket for anything before in my life but that made up for my years of cautious driving!

OP here. $500? Oh that's painful. I read the ordinance to say that the max is supposed to be $250. Were you actually pulled over as moving violation, or was that what you got in the mail?

Got it in the mail. Camera on the bus. It was a 6-lane road and I was at least 4 lanes over from the bus so it really did not occur to me I'd have to stop.

It was very painful. I mean I have never gotten so much as a parking ticket before, never been pulled over, etc!

I'm 50. I've lived in a number of states and 2 countries as an adult. This has been the law since I was 16 in every place I live. Are you too senile to drive? Illiterate? You need to surrender your license if you don't know basic things. Passing a school bus is like drunk driving. There's no excuse.

Next post: Stop when there's a red light.

I agree. This is the law EVERYWHERE I've ever driven. It's common sense (as well as law!)

https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/news2/4-simple-driving-rules-when-approaching-a-stopped-school-bus/
https://www.pwcs.edu/news/2018-2019_n_e_w_s/students__buses__and_the_law_
https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/pol/bussafety.html
https://patch.com/maryland/bowie/when-stop-school-bus-maryland-0


What I get irritated by is school bus drivers thinking they always have the right-of-way. For example, I occasionally travel down a road (past a school) that has the "exit" for school buses after drop-off in the morning or after school dismissal in the afternoon. Even if traffic is moving on the road (at no more than 25 mph, of course, because it's a school zone!), the buses will pull out in front of traffic. They are pulling out onto a road, not loading or unloading students, so they do not have the right of way when traffic is moving. It's frustrating and dangerous. It's happened to me at least half-a-dozen times in the past year or two, so it is not an isolated incident.

I have also experienced this. Once the first bus pulls out, every bus driver after the first drives as though an invisible traffic cop is stopping traffic on the street and waving them all out of the school parking lot - even when they’re not ready to pull out immediately following the previous bus. They’re not even all turning right out of the parking lot; they’ll make left turns out of the parking lot, directly into the path of oncoming traffic. I live in a neighborhood with very narrow streets and cars parked on the streets. There really should be a traffic cop directing traffic during bus runs

Yeah, bus drivers have zero regard for traffic laws when it suits them. But they expect everyone else to follow them.

It's like they're cyclists.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Are there cameras on maryland buses?

OP here. Yes, they sure do. I just logged onto the site to pay my ticket, and they show you the video taken from four different angles. It's pretty impressive.

Not all of them though.

If it hasn’t happened already, all 1200 Montgomery County school buses will have cameras soon. The goal for this was this month.
https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/pol/bussafety.html

No. They will not all have them soon. They won't have them until the first set of cameras are paid off. The bill for the cameras is over $18 million with an inflation clause. The vendor controls everything.

By the way, when pp looked at the video how did the video mark distance? The law requires the bus drivers to turn on their yellow flashers a certain distance before the red stop comes out. How does the video show distance in feet to validate that the yellow lights came on the required distance prior to the red stop sign?