You’ve probably seen the school buses out and about learning their routes for the start of classes. It’s a good time to revisit one of my favorite driving tips: when you can pass a school bus legally.
While I never make assumptions about what other drivers will do, I think it’s a decent bet that most drivers understand the basics of when to stop. But every year, I see outrageous videos of people passing school buses with their red lights flashing and paddles out, on the left and the right. It’s so bad that many school districts have added cameras to those buses to catch violators and curb this bad behavior.
The basic rule for passing a school bus
The basic rule is simple. You must stop in either direction when a school bus has its red lights flashing. You must stop if you’re at an intersection too, like one you might find in your neighborhood streets that don’t have any pavement markings.
But this is what many drivers get wrong. If you are on a road with three or more lanes, you can drive past a school bus with its red lights on if you are going in the opposite direction. Not three or more lanes of travel in the same direction, but simply three or more lanes.
And this includes roads with one lane in each direction and a marked center turn lane. This is where most drivers get nervous and stop, creating unnecessary congestion, frustration, and danger.
I once had a school bus driver flip me off and point at me violently while I passed legally on a three-lane road like this. It appears even some bus drivers don’t understand the rules. I have also witnessed drivers stopping on the other side of five-lane roads for a stopped bus. That’s just dangerous. It’s an unexpected move that will cause accidents.
Just apply some common sense. No bus driver is going to let school children leave their bus and cross multiple lanes of traffic.
Also, remember that even if you are passing legally, children are very unpredictable. If you are passing legally, be very alert and go very slowly.
Chris Sullivan is a traffic reporter for KIRO Newsradio. Read more of his stories here. Follow KIRO Newsradio traffic on X.
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