A 3-minute lesson from the Texas course. Read the rules and examples, follow the handbook page references, and check your understanding before you move on.
Children getting on and off buses are unpredictable, so Texas law is strict: when a school bus shows alternately flashing red lights, traffic in both directions stops. Penalties rise sharply for repeat offenses and injuries.
Traffic in both directions stops for a school bus with flashing red lights
Know the rule
If you approach a school bus from either direction and it is displaying alternately flashing red lights, you must stop.
You're on a four-lane undivided street when an oncoming school bus stops with red lights flashing. You must stop too, because the rule applies from either direction on the same road. Wait until the bus moves, the driver waves you on, or the lights stop flashing.
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.
A school bus ahead is displaying alternately flashing red lights. When may you legally pass it?
When it moves, the driver waves you on, or the lights stop
After you stop and see that no children are crossing
As soon as all children have reached the curb
After you slow to 10 mph and check both sides
Answer: When it moves, the driver waves you on, or the lights stop
You may pass only once the bus resumes motion, the driver signals you to proceed, or the red lights stop flashing.
You're on a divided, controlled-access highway and a school bus is stopped in a loading zone on the far side, where pedestrians can't cross. Must you stop?
Yes, you must always stop for any school bus
Yes, if its red lights are flashing
No, stopping isn't required in this situation
Yes, unless the bus driver waves you through
Answer: No, stopping isn't required in this situation
Stopping isn't required when passing a bus on a controlled-access highway where pedestrians can't cross to the loading zone.
