04/21/2026
Welcome to Traffic Tuesday! Each Tuesday, we will break down a new traffic law to educate our drivers.
This week we are covering:
The Learning Locomotive, Knowledge Express, Academic Shuttle, Student Transport Vehicle… you guessed it… School Buses!
In all simplicity, if the stop sign is out, the bus is coming to a stop in the middle of the road, or the red lights are flashing, and you aren’t sure what to do... STOP! After all, better safe than sorry for both you and the children. Let’s be frank… your mistake could kill a child! Going around that bus isn’t worth the child’s life, your life in jail, and certainly not being the extra minute or two late. Now that we have let that set in, let’s look at the laws and the diagram.
27-51-1004 Passing when stopped prohibited
(a) When a school bus stops and displays its alternating red warning lights for the purpose of loading or unloading passengers, every operator of a motor vehicle or motorcycle meeting or overtaking the school bus from any direction shall bring the motor vehicle or motorcycle to a complete stop not less than thirty feet (30′) before reaching the school bus.
(b) The operator of the motor vehicle or motorcycle shall not start up or attempt to pass in any direction until the school bus has finished receiving or discharging its passengers and is in motion again.
27-51-1005 Operation on multiple lane or divided highway
(a) For the purpose of this section, “multiple lane highway” means a road with four (4) or more traffic lanes and with no fewer than two (2) traffic lanes for traveling in each direction.
(b) If the school bus is operated on a multiple lane highway divided by a parkway or dividing strip of twenty feet (20′) or more in width and if the school bus is on the opposite side of the parkway or dividing strip, then the driver of the approaching vehicle need not stop but shall proceed with due caution for the safety of the children.
