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Hey All,
I feel ashamed and terrible,for overtaking an school bus, an hour back..
My car was on 20's and I passed the school bus when the stop signals were opening up. I could have but the breaks,but when I was overtaking I saw the stop signs coming up.. and It just flashed into my mind that I had to stop.
Before the stop signs fully came out, I had already passed the bus.
By god's grace.. the most unimaginable thing never happened.. but I feel ashamed and guilty for this unethical act of overtaking the bus..
I am not sure whether the driver has noted down my car license plates.
and I really dont know the consequences if he reports this to the cops.
I tried going to the school and finding out the driver to apologize to him.
But, I could not find him.
Could you please advice.. what I can do.. to best handle this situation.
Don't worry about it. This happened to me once as well, on a quiet street in our neighborhood. There were no kids waiting, so when the bus slowed down and moved to the curb, I thought he was just early for a stop or making a phone call, etc. The stop sign only came out as I was passing.
Hey All,
I feel ashamed and terrible,for overtaking an school bus, an hour back..
My car was on 20's and I passed the school bus when the stop signals were opening up. I could have but the breaks,but when I was overtaking I saw the stop signs coming up.. and It just flashed into my mind that I had to stop.
Before the stop signs fully came out, I had already passed the bus.
By god's grace.. the most unimaginable thing never happened.. but I feel ashamed and guilty for this unethical act of overtaking the bus..
I am not sure whether the driver has noted down my car license plates.
and I really dont know the consequences if he reports this to the cops.
I tried going to the school and finding out the driver to apologize to him.
But, I could not find him.
Could you please advice.. what I can do.. to best handle this situation.
I was a driver of a school bus for a few years. I can tell you that the driver does not always get the license number of a car that passes the "Stop Signals". But, apologizing to the driver will not help you. If the driver got your numbers, it was radioed to dispatch, and from there phoned to the police. Within two minutes of you passing the bus, your numbers are at police dispatch. Very often, it isn't just the driver's word you would be up against either. I, and other drivers, would carry a camera that would show the back of the car, complete with the license plate. Used directly through the windshield or via the rear-view mirror, make, model, color, of the vehicle and the plate are all in the picture. What I do not know is just how long it takes for the police to contact and cite the driver. The fine was also quite a bit higher than "running" an ordinary stop sign.
Don't worry about it. This happened to me once as well, on a quiet street in our neighborhood. There were no kids waiting, so when the bus slowed down and moved to the curb, I thought he was just early for a stop or making a phone call, etc. The stop sign only came out as I was passing.
School bus traffic warning lights operate in a sequence. The amber lights are activated 50-100 feet before the bus stops....then, when the bus entry door opens, the red lights come on and the stop sign comes out. You can not activate the reds without first activating the ambers. It's kinda like a regular traffic light....amber means the lights are going to turn red.
OP: I don't know where you were, but in Fairfax, we do not radio anything in. There is a form we can fill out and turn in...it's similar to swearing out a warrant for someone. We have to go to court and be able to identify the driver, etc. It's a pain and most drivers just concentrate on the kids' safety rather than getting tag numbers and descriptions of these idiots.
On my elementary school run AT LEAST a dozen cars pass my bus EVERY day....I wouldn't have time for anything else if I tried to go after them.
I did have one guy that blasted by me most every morning and flipped me off as he went by. That ticked me off, so I went out of my way to arrange for him to meet a FCPD motorcycle officer...who just happened to be riding a few feet from my front bumper. End of problem!
School bus traffic warning lights operate in a sequence. The amber lights are activated 50-100 feet before the bus stops....then, when the bus entry door opens, the red lights come on and the stop sign comes out. You can not activate the reds without first activating the ambers. It's kinda like a regular traffic light....amber means the lights are going to turn red.
Car54, is this the case regardless of which county? This was a while ago;I don't recall if I saw hazard lights or not--just that the stopsign really caught me by surprise. (There is some chance that IF he had the hazards blinking, I might have still thought it was OK to pass--reasoning that if the driver has not chosen to put out the stopsign, that means there are no kids boarding or exiting. I would normally pass a parked car with its hazard lights on.)
Quote:
Originally Posted by car54
I did have one guy that blasted by me most every morning and flipped me off as he went by. That ticked me off, so I went out of my way to arrange for him to meet a FCPD motorcycle officer...who just happened to be riding a few feet from my front bumper. End of problem!
Dear Car 54,
Thanks for your comments. This happened at Fairfax county.
I passed the bus.. when the yellow lights were on and the Stop sign were not opened up completly.
The stop sign opened up once I passed the bus.
Will the driver be expected to report to cops..in this scenario ?
I am right now freaked out from the thoughts of cops/courts hovering around my mind as I have never had any experience with them.
But.. this has really taught me an lesson today...
Dear Car 54,
Thanks for your comments. This happened at Fairfax county.
I passed the bus.. when the yellow lights were on and the Stop sign were not opened up completly.
The stop sign opened up once I passed the bus.
Will the driver be expected to report to cops..in this scenario ?
I am right now freaked out from the thoughts of cops/courts hovering around my mind as I have never had any experience with them.
But.. this has really taught me an lesson today...
Don't freak out. From what Car54 said, you were likely not reported as I doubt the driver was able to get your license plate.
Just take this as a lesson that when the amber/yellow lights start flashing, slow down and prepare to stop.
Location: If you're not living on the edge, you're taking up too much space
12,232 posts, read 3,797,749 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by virginia2203
I passed the bus.. when the yellow lights were on and the Stop sign were not opened up completly.
The stop sign opened up once I passed the bus.
Will the driver be expected to report to cops..in this scenario ?
I am right now freaked out from the thoughts of cops/courts hovering around my mind as I have never had any experience with them.
But.. this has really taught me an lesson today...
Besides revenue for the district, the point of a ticket for that offense is so you'll learn the lesson and not do that again. You're already there even without a ticket. This isn't anything to freak out or obsess over. You might get a ticket/fine in the mail or you might not - but that's all that will happen. Like you said, it was an error in judgement but no harm came of it. Something similar happened to me and my husband years ago in another part of Virginia. In our case we were going the opposite direction on the other side of a double yellow line as the stop signs started to come out from the side of the bus. It also happened to be at a fork in the road so, in a way, we weren't 'really' passing the bus. Nevertheless, we ended up getting a ticket in the mail that we paid the same way and that was that. Stop worrying!
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