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  1. #1
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    Default When is it Legal to Pass a Stopped School Bus

    My question involves a traffic ticket from the state of Iowa. My daughter came around a blind curve on a residential street and suddenly encountered a stopped school bus. She didn’t see a stop sign or red lights, so she passed it. She subsequently received a ticket. We measured the distance from where she first saw the bus and where it was stopped. It was about 160 feet. Iowa code 321.372 says, “Except to the extent that reduced visibility is caused by fog, snow, or other weather conditions, a school bus shall not stop to receive or discharge pupils unless there is at least three hundred feet of unobstructed vision in each direction.” Is she guilty anyway?

  2. #2
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    Default Re: When is it Legal to Pass a Stopped School Bus

    Why aren't you proposing a defense to the ticket based upon there being no illuminated lights or extended stop sign?
    Quote Quoting iowa Code, Sec. 321.372(3)
    The driver of a vehicle, including the driver of a vehicle operating on a private road or driveway, when meeting a school bus with flashing amber warning lamps shall reduce the vehicle's speed to not more than twenty miles per hour, and shall bring the vehicle to a complete stop when the school bus stops and the stop signal arm is extended. The vehicle shall remain stopped until the stop signal arm is retracted after which time the driver may proceed with due caution.

    The driver of a vehicle, including the driver of a vehicle operating on a private road or driveway, overtaking a school bus shall not pass a school bus when red or amber warning signal lights are flashing. The driver shall bring the vehicle to a complete stop no closer than fifteen feet from the school bus when it is stopped and the stop arm is extended, and the vehicle shall remain stopped until the stop arm is retracted and the school bus resumes motion.
    I see nothing in the statute that would excuse a driver for ignoring flashing red or amber lights, or ignoring an extended stop arm, merely because the driver believes or argues after-the-fact that the school bus shouldn't have stopped at that particular location - nor would that be good policy, given that the purpose of the requirement to stop is to protect children from injury.

  3. #3
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    Default Re: When is it Legal to Pass a Stopped School Bus

    Quote Quoting Mr. Knowitall
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    Why aren't you proposing a defense to the ticket based upon there being no illuminated lights or extended stop sign?

    I see nothing in the statute that would excuse a driver for ignoring flashing red or amber lights, or ignoring an extended stop arm, merely because the driver believes or argues after-the-fact that the school bus shouldn't have stopped at that particular location - nor would that be good policy, given that the purpose of the requirement to stop is to protect children from injury.
    She is. What do you think Iowa lawmakers intended with the 300-foot law? In other words, what is its purpose?

  4. #4
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    Default Re: When is it Legal to Pass a Stopped School Bus

    Quote Quoting Iowa Mom
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    She is. What do you think Iowa lawmakers intended with the 300-foot law? In other words, what is its purpose?
    to prohibit a bus driver from stopping their bus in such a location as it would increase the possibility of an accident. It is a directive to the driver of the bus. It does not provide a defense to the driver of the vehicle that passed the bus.


    Look at it this way;

    even if you could not see the bus until you started to pass it, as long as those lights are on and sign out, you cannot complete the pass. While it might allow a judge to be sympathetic and reduce the penalty, it does not excuse the violation itself.

  5. #5
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    Default Re: When is it Legal to Pass a Stopped School Bus

    Quote Quoting jk
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    to prohibit a bus driver from stopping their bus in such a location as it would increase the possibility of an accident. It is a directive to the driver of the bus. It does not provide a defense to the driver of the vehicle that passed the bus.


    Look at it this way;

    even if you could not see the bus until you started to pass it, as long as those lights are on and sign out, you cannot complete the pass. While it might allow a judge to be sympathetic and reduce the penalty, it does not excuse the violation itself.
    I wonder. Two 2012 studies, one commissioned by the State of Iowa and another by the NHTSA noted that an exceptional number of people pass school buses--so exceptional that it's puzzling. After all, most people truly care about children. Both studies explored possible reasons and concluded that one reason may be that they're not able to see the bus and stop in time.

    Most states specify where a school bus can stop. Iowa says there has to be 300 feet of unobstructed visibility. Some states make it 500.

    If a driver, especially an inexperienced driver, doesn't have ample time to see a bus and process the need to stop, especially when there's a law requiring the bus driver to give her ample time to see the bus and process the need to stop, how should our system of justice react?

    Oh, and let's not forget that she didn't see any lights or sign--perhaps because they weren't activated, perhaps because she didn't have enough time to process what she saw.

  6. #6
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    Default Re: When is it Legal to Pass a Stopped School Bus

    Are you still at it?

    If your daughter is as concerned about this as you appear to be, then she is free to go into court and argue that the law shouldn't apply to her as long as the bus is where she says it shouldn't be. We're not the ones you have to convince - here or down the street. But she still committed a violation, no matter how you slice it.

  7. #7
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    Default Re: When is it Legal to Pass a Stopped School Bus

    If she didn't have time to process the info while driving 160 feet at 15 mph, she should go to the closest DMV, drop to her knees, bow her head and hand any employee her license while exclaiming:

    i am not worthy of being trusted with this. Please forgive me for accepting it so prematurely in life. May you one day test me and find me truly worthy.

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