Driving past a School Bus

This is from the website cyberdriveillinois.com

What is the law with regards to pass a stopped school bus in Illinois?
The driver of a vehicle shall stop such vehicle before meeting or overtaking, from either direction, any school bus stopped for the purpose of receiving or discharging pupils on a highway or upon a private road. Such stop is required before reaching the school bus when the school bus when there is in operation on the school bus visual signals. The driver of the vehicle shall not proceed until the school bus resumes motion or the driver of the vehicle is signaled by the school bus driver to proceed or the visual signals are no longer activated.

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We have one of those smaller school busses that stops right outside the home of the girl who lives there (she's a special needs child). I've asked her mom about it in the past because I thought the same as you did. She explained that because the bus is right at her curb and only intended for her daughter's pickup, people are ok to drive around it. Her daughter is literally going from her front door to the bus door with no need to be in the street.

In the case of other larger busses that pick up/drop off mutiple children coming from multiple directions, the sign is there to indicate that other drivers should stop because these kids will be coming and/or going from ALL different directions AND crossing in the street at various intersections.

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I would have done the same as you. However, since you are both sitting there for a few minutes, why don't you get out and ask the driver what the correct procedure is? I would.

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If the lights are flashing and the sign is out, you can NOT pass. If the bus is a "little school bus" picking up door to door and the bus is actually waiting on the child to come out; it is most likely a Special Education Bus. Many times these bus drivers will pull to a "no crossing" loading zone curb side and do not require for traffic to stop. Many times the Spcial Education Buses can be sitting for an extended period of time as it takes longer to get these special angels out of the house and loaded and unloaded; not to mention strapped or harnessed in. So they usually do not engage the "stop sign" as it would really back up traffic and cause a bigger safety issues. The pick up and drop off of these kids are very well thought out to keep them from needing to cross any streets. With "general population" school buses; the children are crossing in front of the buses and a car passing a School Bus can not see the children enetering the street. It is for this reason the "Stop" law has been placed into effect. So if there are no lights and no stop sign, then you are free to pull "Slowly" around the bus with caution and pass.

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I will agree with others: if the lights are not flashing and the stop sign is not out you should pass. Many drivers in our neighborhood will pull up close to the curb and let traffic pass to ease congestion.

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If the red lights are not blinking and the stop sign on the bus is not out then you can legally pass, if they are on and the stop sign is out then it is not legal to pass

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You legally can pass as long as the RED lights are OFF. The yellow lights or no lights are fine. My MIL was a bus driver. The other cars are correct in what they are doing.

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If the lights aren't on and the bus is clearly pulling over to wait, you can pass. You definitely DON'T want to pass if the lights are on...that is a big time no no.

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you only need to wait when the red lights are flashing. Many small buses make stops to pick up kids who are either currently disabled (broken bones) or are developmentally disabled. Having a number of friends with special needs kids, I know that their mornings can either be smooth or awful and getting that child out the door and onto the bus is unpredictable - which is why the bus drive probably doesn't turn on the flashers until the child actually comes out of the house. Some drivers will actually wave drives to pass them - but unless the reds lights are flashing you are allowed to pass a bus.

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As long as the stop sign is not out and the lights are not flashing, it is okay to pass the bus. Believe me, the bus driver will activate all of the appropriate signals when the little girl is ready to get on or off the bus. No need to tie up traffic needlessly.

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If the stop sign is up, you have to stop, if they are just pulled to the side of the road, pass it. If I didn't, it would take me HOURS to get to work every morning.

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I think you only have to stop when the bus actually pulls out their stop sign. I have seen some busses that stop to pick up kids at their houses as well...sometimes for several minutes before the kid comes out. I don't think you are expected to wait that whole time. But if I am not correct, let me know!

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You must stop when the busses STOP sign is extended and is usually flashing.

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I work on a school bus and my driver pulls over to the curb whenever he can so he does not have to stop traffic. If the large red lights on the top are not flashing and the stop sign is not out you do not have to stop. It is amazing how many people will run a stop sign and red lights flashing though on the school bus though.

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To pass the bus the lights must be off & the STOP sign not out.They can pull over more to pick up or drop off pass as long as the lights aren't flashing or the STOP sign is out be cautious because kids will try to attempt to cross the road assuming that cars will not pass since the bus has stopped to let them off the bus or on..
I see this everyday at my sons stop his is right on our corner hop skip & a jump out our front door the kids that live a block down try to cross the street as soon as they get off the bus the cars don't STOP for them just becasue the bus is on the corner & not on their side of the road..As the other kids get off go directly in front of the bus to cross the corner he pulls up to the corner & blocks the way so for no cars can go through or attempt to pass or turn from the oncoming traffic..
So to sum it up for you if you feel safer waiting then do so all they can do is give you an evil eye honk or flip you off so what it's way better than to drive off assuming there is no kid darting to get on the bus

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If the stop sign is not out you do not have to wait. Sometimes when our bus gets here early he pulls over to wait to be sure no one misses the bus, and if if all the cars had to wait it would be 5 or 6 minutes that the main road would be closed! That could never work. I would slowly go around.

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Illegal to pass school bus... if the lights are on! If not, you can pass the school bus.

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You are allowed to pass until the stop sign is out and the lights are flashing as long as you do so safely. The law is in place to protect children as they board and exit the bus. The bus driver does not put the sign out until the child is out of the house to allow you to pass.

M.

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If the red flashing lights aren't on you don't "have" to wait. Apparently the driver knows this child is going to take a few moments. If you see the child coming out, I would wait.

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You only have to stop if the 'stop sign' is out. You can safely pass the bus if the stop sign is not out

if the stop sign is not on and the orange "warning " lights arent flashing that the stop sign is about to come out then there is no problem passing. I assume that the lights go on as soon as the child is spotted coming towards the bus.

Hi V.. I run into the same thing a couple times a week. There is a small bus that picks up a special needs child at their home and he to does not put out his stop sign anymore. He signals us to go because is usually still in the house when he pulls up. Even if he's out he walks REALLY SLOW to the bus. I think it is ok to pass if the Stop sign is not up. That is the bus drivers way of saying you may pass.

My understanding is that you must stop when the school bus has its stop sign out. The driver here is not putting the sign out until the girl is actually about to board the bus so that drivers will not be held up for several minutes for no reason. So, in short, yes, you are wrong to wait. My son rides a smaller bus like this, a special ed route, and the driver never puts the stop sign out and activates the flashing lights until he's walking out to the bus.