What Motorists Should Know

FACT
The majority of children injured or killed in pupil transportation are not injured or killed on the bus, but outside the bus.

FACT
Most are struck by motorists who fail to stop for the flashing red signal lights. This area area around the stopped school bus is often referred to as the "DEATH ZONE".

	School buses DO NOT use their red flashing lights at special loading or unloading zones at a school location or a business district or when the bus driver drives off the roadway in a rural area onto the shoulder. Before these stops, the bus driver will activate the amber warning signal lights. Motorists are not required to stop.
	School buses USE the red flashing signal lights when stopped on the roadway in rural areas, business and residential areas in municipalities, and off the roadway in residential areas. On the streets in residential areas, the bus may pull up to the curb to load and unload students. The bus driver will use the amber warning signal lights to warn motorists of his/her intention to stop the bus. Motorists are required to stop when the school bus red flashing lights are displayed.
	State law requires all school buses to stop for railroad crossings. The school bus will pull to the right and display the amber warning signal lights as it stops momentarily to determine if it is safe to cross. If you are approaching the bus from the front you may proceed past with caution. If you are approaching the school bus from the rear, the law prohibits driving over the center line to pass if the bus is within 100 feet of a railroad crossing.
	There is only one situation in which a motorist approaching a school bus displaying flashing red lights is not required to stop, i.e. when the motorist is approaching the bus from the front on the opposite side of the a highway divided by a physical barrier such as a median of grass, fence, concrete, or by a railing. Motorists approaching from behind the school bus must stop.