If separated by median, I usually slow down, but don't stop. Otherwise I always stop.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is scary to me that their are people driving around who don't know the answer to this question!

The median confuses things. Also, if you're routinely getting chastised (honked at) for doing something that you know is right, you begin to lose certainty after a bit. You start to wonder. Or at least, I do. But then, I'm aware of the people around me. SOME people (ahem) just barrel through the world with ironclad certainty that their way is the right way, at all times and in all cases.

The law is actually unambiguous: When approaching a school bus that is on the other side of a median in the road, the legal thing to do is to proceed within the posted speed limit (as pps have pointed out). People behind you are honking because you are not supposed to stop dead in the roadway. You could be ticketed.

Anonymous wrote:It is scary to me that their are people driving around who don't know the answer to this question!

The median confuses things. Also, if you're routinely getting chastised (honked at) for doing something that you know is right, you begin to lose certainty after a bit. You start to wonder. Or at least, I do. But then, I'm aware of the people around me. SOME people (ahem) just barrel through the world with ironclad certainty that their way is the right way, at all times and in all cases.

Yes, those who honk are just impatient jerks who are asking for trouble. Just stop and wait for the kids to come out, in case they cross the road.

Even if separated by a median, I stop anyway. It only takes a minute to stop and wait, & it is not worth the risk of hitting a child (even if kids are not supposed to be crossing the median, you never know.). I am usually in a hurry, but never in so much of a hurry that I can't wait 30-60 seconds for the school bus.

It is scary to me that their are people driving around who don't know the answer to this question!

In MoCo, the tickets are for somewhere in the neighborhood of $450. We see cars try to out maneuver the school bus every single day on our busy neighborhood street, blocks from a school. Cars race to try to pass it before the driver has flipped the stop sign. It's obscene. What in your life is so important that your can't wait 20 seconds to keep some kids safe?

Anonymous wrote:There was a recent test done by putting cameras on school buses to take pictures like a red light camera, the number of people running them is out of control. They will soon have them on all school buses.

This is awesome. I hope the tickets are for huge sums. This seems to be about the most direct risk to life of any driving rule I can think of.

How did you get a driver's license? Ha! This is always on the test.

There was a recent test done by putting cameras on school buses to take pictures like a red light camera, the number of people running them is out of control. They will soon have them on all school buses.

The median means you're ok, but proceed with caution. Definitely watch out for entitled douchebags who might try to veer around you as you slow down.

I will take this opportunity to remind folks that it is illegal to turn right in front of a stopped bus, including metro buses. There is a bus stop at the corner of my street, so it often happens that I'm sitting waiting for the bus to pull away from its stop in order to turn right onto my street. Assholes honk at me all the time. But it's a serious, realistic safety issue. As people get off the bus, they're going to be walking through the intersection that I'll be driving through, and I won't see them til I'm around the bus and almost on them.

The idea is that if a bus is stopped, kids are likely to be crossing the street to get to it. So I'd stop, median or no. Honkers be damned.

If there's a median just the side behind the bus must stop.

"Vehicles must stop for school buses when the buses' red flashers are on (except when the buses are on the opposite side of a highway divided by a barrier or median strip). "

http://www.sha.state.md.us/Index.aspx?PageId=92

Not sure what that means for you...

I keep getting beeped at when I stop when the bus has the stop sign up. Our neighborhood has four lanes separated by a median, the houses are on both sides. Do you stop only on the side that the bus is on, when the bus has the stop sign up? Or stop on both sides of the road?