(1)
(a)The driver of a motor vehicle upon any highway, road, or street, upon meeting or
overtaking from either direction any school bus that has stopped, shall stop the
vehicle at least twenty feet before reaching the school bus if visual signal lights as
specified in subsection (2) of this section have been actuated on the school bus. The
driver shall not proceed until the visual signal lights are no longer being actuated.
(b)(I) A driver of any school bus who observes a violation of paragraph (a) of
this subsection (1) shall notify the driver's school district transportation dispatcher.
The school bus driver shall provide the school district transportation dispatcher
with the color, basic description, and license plate number of the vehicle involved in
the violation, informat
Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI
(1)
(a) The driver of a motor vehicle upon any highway, road, or street, upon meeting or
overtaking from either direction any school bus that has stopped, shall stop the
vehicle at least twenty feet before reaching the school bus if visual signal lights as
specified in subsection (2) of this section have been actuated on the school bus. The
driver shall not proceed until the visual signal lights are no longer being actuated.
(b) (I) A driver of any school bus who observes a violation of paragraph (a) of
this subsection (1) shall notify the driver's school district transportation dispatcher.
The school bus driver shall provide the school district transportation dispatcher
with the color, basic description, and license plate number of the vehicle involved in
the violation, information pertaining to the identity of the alleged violator, and the
time and the approximate location at which the violation occurred. Any school
district transportation dispatcher who has received information by a school bus
driver concerning a violation of paragraph (a) of this subsection (1) shall provide
such information to the appropriate law enforcement agency or agencies.
(II) A law enforcement agency may issue a citation on the basis of the
information supplied to it pursuant to subparagraph (I) of this paragraph (b) to the
driver of the vehicle involved in the violation.
(2) (a) Every school bus as defined in section 42-1-102 (88), other than a
small passenger-type vehicle having a seating capacity of not more than twelve,
used for the transportation of schoolchildren must:
(I) Bear upon the front and rear of such school bus plainly visible and legible
signs containing the words SCHOOL BUS in letters not less than eight inches in
height; and
(II) Display eight visual signal lights meeting the requirements of 49 CFR
571.108 or its successor regulation.
(a.5) Every multifunction school activity bus as defined in section 42-1-102
(60.1) must bear on the front and rear of the bus the words ACTIVITY BUS in black
letters not less than eight inches in height.
(b) (I) The red visual signal lights shall be actuated by the driver of the school
bus whenever the school bus is stopped for the purpose of receiving or discharging
schoolchildren, is stopped because it is behind another school bus that is receiving
or discharging passengers, or, except as provided in subsection (4) of this section,
is stopped because it has met a school bus traveling in a different direction that is
receiving or discharging passengers and at no other time; but such lights need not
be actuated when a school bus is stopped at locations where the local traffic
regulatory authority has by prior written designation declared such actuation
unnecessary.
(II) A school bus shall be exempt from the provisions of subparagraph (I) of
this paragraph (b) when stopped for the purpose of discharging or loading
passengers who require the assistance of a lift device only when no passenger is
required to cross the roadway. Such buses shall stop as far to the right off the
roadway as possible to reduce obstruction to traffic.
(c) The alternating flashing yellow lights shall be actuated at least two
hundred feet prior to the point where the bus is to be stopped for the purpose of
receiving or discharging schoolchildren, and the red lights shall be actuated only at
the time the bus is actually stopped.
(3) Every school bus used for the transportation of schoolchildren, except
those small passenger-type vehicles described in subsection (1) of this section and
multifunction school activity buses, must be equipped with school bus pedestrian
safety devices that comply with 49 CFR 571.131 or its successor regulation.
(4) The driver of a vehicle upon a highway with separate roadways need not
stop upon meeting or passing a school bus that is on a different roadway. As used in
this section, highway with separate roadways means a highway that is divided into
two or more roadways by a depressed or raised median, physical barriers, or other
intervening space serving as a clearly indicated section or island that physically
divides the roadways.
(5) Every school bus shall stop as far to the right of the roadway as possible
before discharging or loading passengers; except that the school bus may block
the lane of traffic when a passenger being received or discharged is required to
cross the roadway. When possible, a school bus shall not stop where the visibility is
obscured for a distance of two hundred feet either way from the bus. The driver of a
school bus that has stopped shall allow time for any vehicles that have stopped
behind the school bus to pass the school bus, if such passing is legally permissible
where the school bus is stopped, after the visual signal lights, if any, are no longer
being displayed or actuated and after all children who have embarked or
disembarked from the bus are safe from traffic.
(6) (a) Except as provided in paragraph (b) of this subsection (6), any person
who violates any provision of paragraph (a) of subsection (1) of this section commits
a class 2 misdemeanor traffic offense.
(b) Any person who violates the provisions of paragraph (a) of subsection (1)
of this section commits a class 1 misdemeanor traffic offense if such person has
been convicted within the previous five years of a violation of paragraph (a) of
subsection (1) of this section.
(7) The provisions of this section shall not apply in the case of public
transportation programs for pupil transportation under section 22-51-104 (1)(c),
C.R.S.