A 4-minute lesson from the Massachusetts course. Read the rules and examples, follow the handbook page references, and check your understanding before you move on.
Large vehicles need more room to stop and turn and have big blind spots. Many crashes happen because a smaller vehicle was hidden, followed too closely, or cut in too soon. School buses bring their own strict law.
Know the rule
Yellow school buses have flashing red lights and a stop sign that folds out from the driver's side; pupil transport vans and cars have flashing red lights and SCHOOL BUS signs. Stop for them from either side of the road, and stay stopped until the lights stop flashing or the stop sign folds back.
The only exception: a school bus stopped on the other side of a divided highway with a barrier between directions. After the warning signals stop, proceed slowly and keep looking for children.
Don't follow closely behind a truck or bus, and know the driver's blind spots on the right, left, front and behind. If you can't see a truck's rearview mirrors, you are tailgating.
Don't pull in front of a large vehicle and then slow or stop suddenly. A large truck may need twice the distance to stop as a car or motorcycle, especially on wet or icy roads, and could hit you or jackknife.
On a multiple-lane highway, trucks and buses may only use the two right-hand lanes: the far right for travel and the second for passing. In the second lane, keep up with traffic, never below the minimum speed, and move over to let a truck or bus pass when safe.
Passing a tractor-trailer or bus takes longer; it may pull more than one trailer, and large vehicles go slower uphill and faster downhill. Avoid passing on the right: they may swing left before a wide right turn.
When a truck or bus approaches on an undivided road, stay to the right to avoid a sideswipe or air turbulence. At intersections, judge its speed carefully and don't cut in front of it to turn.
On a two-lane road, a school bus stops across from you with red lights flashing. You must stop even though it's in the opposite lane, stay stopped until the lights stop, then go slowly and watch for children.
Check your understanding
Read the question, decide on an answer, then open it to check the explanation. These are Roadwise study questions based on the source handbook.
What must you do when a school bus stops with its red lights flashing on a two-way street?
Stop only if you're behind the bus
Stop, from either direction
Slow down but you may pass carefully
Stop only if children are visible outside
Answer: Stop, from either direction
You must stop for a school bus with flashing red lights from either direction, no matter which side of the road you're on.
