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Reminder on how to handle school buses - for some reason people can't seem to get this right. No need to stop on the opposite side of a 4 lane road with a center turning lane while an entire apartment complex full of kids loads on/off a bus.
I think it's a combination of people erring on the side of caution (they'd rather stop when uncertain than risk a ticket) and the fact that the law is kind of confusing and should probably be simplified.
The fact that the diagram includes five different illustrations and even then doesn't cover all possible scenarios you might run into demonstrates the issue.
For example, what if it's a two lane road with a median separation? (Opposing traffic does not need to stop.)
So a road that has been physically divided into two separate roadways means opposing traffic doesn't need to stop, but a center turn lane only counts as a barrier if the road is at least 4 lanes.
"Notwithstanding subsection (a) of this section, the driver of a vehicle traveling in the opposite direction from the school bus, upon any road, highway or city street that has been divided into two roadways, so constructed as to separate vehicular traffic between the two roadways by an intervening space (including a center lane for left turns if the roadway consists of at least four more lanes) or by a physical barrier, need not stop upon meeting and passing any school bus that has stopped in the roadway across the dividing space or physical barrier."
It's too much for people to remember in the moment.
I'm more irked by the traffic hazard created by governing the school bus speeds. If you're on 85 or 40 travelling at the governed 55 mph or whatever it is our kids aren't any safer and every one else is less safe for it.
By law, standard school buses are limited to 45 and activity buses are limited to 55. And yes, it's awfully unsafe for them to be going that while mixed in with traffic going 70+.
I'm more irked by the traffic hazard created by governing the school bus speeds. If you're on 85 or 40 travelling at the governed 55 mph or whatever it is our kids aren't any safer and every one else is less safe for it.
As someone who once had to regularly drive governed busses (not school buses; Y activity busses) on Triangle area highways and interstates.....it is a lose-lose-lose situation.
Hell for the driver
Hell for the kids/teachers/counselors/etc on the bus (no AC and windows only go down half way)
Hell for the other drivers on the road who have to get stuck behind or pass.
As for the "when to stop" rules...I must say, anecdotally, I've seen far more instances of drivers blatantly breaking the law and passing when they weren't supposed to (on more than one occasion; I've seen impatient drivers who are in the same lane as the stopped bus swerve around the pass.....that usually elicits quite the barrage of horn honking from the bus driver and usually a couple of the other stopped cars) than people stopping when they don't have to. But again; just my anecdotal observation.
I'm more irked by the traffic hazard created by governing the school bus speeds. If you're on 85 or 40 travelling at the governed 55 mph or whatever it is our kids aren't any safer and every one else is less safe for it.
Annoying, yes. But I don't think busses were made to travel at, nor are they safe at speeds above that, so there really is not a lot of options.
If people actually went the speed limit, it would be mostly a 10mph differential at max, and the rare times where the speed limit is 70 (15mph delta) then it's only in places where you should have huge lines of sight, and would be able to see the bus well in advance to prepare and slow down. Problem is most drivers are not aware, and don't heed the advance notice.
Not saying it's not annoying, it is. But really, this is more a problem if crappy drivers than governed school-busses.
Kids are much safer getting rear-ended by a car than having a bus roll over at 70mph because it couldn't handle a turn on a road designed for cars and bikes. It's all relative.
One issue with the five-lane section is that the law in other states is different; vehicles must stop in both directions. That's probably where the AAA graphic shown by WRAL came from (WRAL not doing proper research though, as usual.)
On the school bus/interstate issue, it used to be that buses would not use the freeway unless there were not other reasonable issues, such as in the western part of the state. Signs would be installed warning that school buses would be using the freeway. I do not recall if this was by statute or by standard operation.
At some point ten or so years ago, Wake County decided to run buses on I-40 (in particuar) even though there were reasonable surface streets available. I don't know what discussions were had, but I'm sure they were claiming that they needed the most direct and (usually) non-stop road to go from one route to another. Most of the buses I saw on I-40 commuting from Durham to Garner over the past 15 years were empty. (Their transportation center has been off Rock Quarry Road since at least 1993 checking Google Earth.)
The technology is available to show just what "damage" a single bus does to the traffic flow on a busy freeway like I-40. I thought about commissioning a study, but never got around to it.
One of the issues is people coming from other areas. In NY you must stop both ways - period. The road characteristics do not matter.
Took me awhile to get the hang of it here.
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