Two way or multiple lane road?

[FC76-81]

Update. Well I got my ticket in the mail the other day. The cost is $695.00 for a first offense. Interestingly, since my ticket, I've driven this exact area about 6 times when the school bus is there. Three times out of the six, (one out of two times) someone gets pulled over for passing the bus, passing it on the opposite side of the street as I did at this location. Today I whipped out my digital camera and snapped a picture of the street where I got my ticket. And as the bus started to eventually roll, a cop on a motorcycle was hiding behind it. In the picture attached, if you blow it up, you can see his helmet between the silver car roof and the door of the bus. He's on a motorcycle wedged between the two parked cars next to the bus. After the bus left and traffic resumed in each direction, he drove down the same street as I was driving on to a new location about a half mile away where he ticketed someone for passing another school bus with it's red lights flashing and stop sign extended. Foster City cops are making bank for the city with these school bus tickets. The issue is, this is a trap area because the street is very wide (roughly between 60 and 65 feet across from one curb to the other, with a number of lanes in between. There is a center reverse left turn lane with the lane branching off into two lanes at the stop sign. Watch out in Foster City, they have about 3 to 5 different buses circulating the streets between 7am to 7:30am and cops everywhere. When I was a kid in Foster City, it was Officer Beerman. Now there are a dozen little Officer Beerman's wearing sunglasses following the school buses in squad cars, SUV's and cycles.

[ketch89]

Great job Foster City!

Kids run across the street to catch the bus. Know the laws, or don't drive.

[FC76-81]

Originally Posted by ketch89

Great job Foster City!

Kids run across the street to catch the bus. Know the laws, or don't drive.

Yeah, great job. Maybe their lame fireworks display will be worth more then a turd next year. Great Job!

As for the law, that's right. But where it gets iffy is when there are suspect areas set up to be tricky. The law changed in 2012 from where a car could pass a school bus just as long as the school bus was on the opposite side of the street. So since you're in the "safety" mode right now. Provide a link to a story reporting about a kid in Foster City getting run over while running across the street to board a bus before 2012 when the school bus could be passed from the opposite direction.

[comingbacktocali]

wow, that fine is really steep. but, i have to agree with giving it as i see kids do crazy things to cross the street to catch a bus. trap or not, the officer has a right to stop and ticket the violators.

and you are lucky he didn't cite you for using your phone while driving...

[ServoMiff]

The center lane is never a true additional lane unless considered a "reversible lane" supplemented with overhead signals. (see photo)

This is indicated in certain areas where the center lane may be used in opposite directions for positive traffic flow during peak commute hours. Otherwise it's merely a turn lane and it's simply a two lane road that's a bit wider because it appears curb parking is allowed.

[FC76-81]

Originally Posted by comingbacktocali

wow, that fine is really steep. but, i have to agree with giving it as i see kids do crazy things to cross the street to catch a bus. trap or not, the officer has a right to stop and ticket the violators.

and you are lucky he didn't cite you for using your phone while driving...

I took the picture with a small digital camera, not a cell phone. Not sure yet if there is a law about holding a digital camera, yet at least. That picture wasn't taken on the day that I got the ticket.

Safety vs revenue. Everything in life revolves around odds. The two possibilities are as follows:

1) One or more kids get hit in Foster City while going to or leaving the bus. In the name of "safety first", Foster City council votes to take the street where the kid(s) are getting hit, which is currently a multilane half mile stretch of roadway, and change it into a one lane in each direction with a reversible left turn lane in the center and large shoulders at both sides at a cost of $100,000 over a one month period of time.

2) Due to budget reduction, the Foster City council votes to take what is currently a multilane half mile stretch of roadway, and change it into a one lane in each direction with a reversible left turn lane in the center and large shoulders at both sides at a cost of $100,000 over a one month period of time. (This is where the odds that I mentioned earlier come in). The money spent to do the work ($100,000) will easily be recovered after only issuing approximately 144 tickets for passing a school bus stopped on either side of the roadway. In the six times I've drove that stretch over the past 30 days, I've witnessed three citations for passing the school bus be issued. That's $2,085.00 in revenue right there. Basically that is a rate of one every other day, and a rate of 183 in roughly one year. This would make it a long term investment indeed. They front $100,000 and have that paid off in less then a year. At that point it's all a windfall revenue for the city from that point forward. But the odds don't stop there. There are odds that more then just one citation will be issued for passing the bus. The driver may have something else wrong such as a broken tail light, no front license plate, no registration and/or proof of insurance, even maybe an expired license. More odds yet. Someone isn't going to pay the ticket on time, and those come with extra fees. Odds are what make the world go round. That's why Wells Fargo offers free checking, under specific criteria, one being that you have an automatic transfer of "x" amount of money into one account and into another account per month, and if you for some reason forget to do that, they charge you "x" amount in penalties. Or a cell phone bill, you forget to pay the bill they tack on a late fee, even if you pay on Saturday but the last day of the week before the bill is due is the Friday before. It's all about the odds. Or how about the life insurance odds. Life insurance companies all know the odds of how many life insurance policies will actually be paid out. Some policies close after the insured hits a certain age, some reduce in face amount once a policy holder hits a specific age, some forget they had a policy at all but have been paying into it for 25 to 30 years and then die without anyone knowing they had the policy. Or some cancel out after paying for years. Car insurance, you can pay for 25 to 30 years and if you've never had an accident, you don't get any of those premiums back. The companies all know the odds. Odds are everything and all the business of the entire world is based on the odds.

The real kicker to all of this driving law madness is, they take a positive risk and claim that it's the primary purpose for the law to be approved. In this case, sure, kids will be more safe then compared to how it was before there were two lanes of traffic in each direction. But no kids were getting hit in the first place where they did the road reconstruction. And if they were, I'd like to see a few links showing that kids in fact had been hit in this stretch of road that they changed.

So in regards to the Foster City School Buss traperage, I'm pretty damn confident possibility #2 is the primary purpose (revenue) and the kids being "more safe" as a positive risk and not the primary.

[dburbs1975]

it is most certainly NOT a divided road, but...

I have some experience with traffic court, and dealing with judges and law enforcement in general, not because I am a criminal.

Here is my advice.

Go to fight it. Explain that you realize now after discussing the issue with others that you were in error, but the rules are confusing to you. Explain that you are cautious person by nature, and that if you had hurt a child you would never have been able to live it down and you are glad that you were pulled over because now you understand the rules better, it gave you a chance to review them. Say "thank you for your time, and thank you for listening to me."

But do ask that the moving violation be set aside because you have been a careful driver and do not want your insurance rates to go up.

You will likely get a fine, but the points will be scratched. Unless you have an unsafe history.

And don't take it lightly because even if they scratch the ticket, it will still turn up when a cop runs your plate randomly on the road and the next time you are ticketed you will get zero mercy.

And even further more, your line of thinking will not help you get rid of your ticket issue, so don't bother pursuing it with a judge.

I thought about living in FC but felt those wide highway roads were too unsafe with kids, so I get it.

[NoMoreSnowForMe]

If you were behind a school bus with it's lights flashing, you deserve your ticket, in my opinion. And I'm not someone who is against fighting a bogus ticket.

There's just no way, in my opinion, that you can justify going around a stopped school bus with it's lights flashing.

And the fact that you're looking for loopholes after the fact, in that maybe a divided road might have made your actions okay - just goes to show, in my opinion, that you knew you were in the wrong and are just looking for a way out.

Nope. You don't get to drive around a stopped bus with it's lights flashing and get away with it. Or feel justified in doing so. Would you want someone doing that if your kid was walking off that bus?

Do the traffic court class, which will keep the ticket off your record and off your insurance company's radar, and pay your fine. You screwed up. Admit it. Pay your dues.

[Maceart]

If a school bus is stopped with its red light flashing, you CANNOT pass if you're going in the same direction.

That's literally the first thing the DMV looks for in their driving test. Pass a flashing school bus and you automatically fail.

Yes, the fine is steep but online traffic school will get rid of the mark on your record and should have no effect on insurance rates.

[FC76-81]

Please read the first post I wrote on this thread closely. I was traveling in the opposite direction. What I didn't mention is that I had just pulled out of the strip mall driveway from a dead stop. I was driving maybe maximum five mph at the time I passed the bus. The bus was almost directly across the street from the driveway. The road in that area is so wide, with that reverse left turn lane in the middle, it could be mistaken as a multiple lane road. I had absolutely no idea I was doing anything wrong and I'm not looking for an excuse. Only justifying why I mistakenly thought it was ok to pass in the opposite direction. And it is by no mistake, coincidence or accident that cops are at that exact specific spot when the bus comes to that location. The cops are are on that spot like flies on dog feces.

I've already made my mind up that I'll pay the ticket and go to traffic school. I'll just not get a second cup during my morning trips to Starbucks for a few months. $700 at Starbucks is only 175 drinks. I do that usually in about two months. I'll just cut back a little for the next few months. Reallocating funds, problem solved.