08/23/2026
Visualizing the Law: Where Do You Have to Stop for a School Bus?
Following our discussion the other day on school bus safety as school starts tomorrow morning, a citizen reached out and shared this helpful visual breakdown illustrating North Carolina's school bus stop laws.
The image below shows that on normal two lane roads, two lane roads with a center turning lane, and four lane roads without a median, traffic traveling in both directions must come to a complete stop for a bus with its flashing red lights and extended arm.
However, on divided highways with four or more lanes separated by a raised physical median or a turn lane, only vehicles traveling in the same direction as the bus are required to stop, while oncoming traffic may proceed with caution.
Beyond knowing when to stop, let us all remember our everyday road etiquette as the morning commute is now shared with buses transporting children to and fro. Give buses plenty of breathing room in following distance so you have full visibility of the road ahead and never attempt to pass a bus or any other vehicle across a double solid or solid yellow line.
This graphic does a great job showing all of that in an easy to understand way. Please take a minute to look.
I also ask for patience with teachers, faculty, bus drivers, and the transportation department as they too are settling into the new school year and navigating many changes from years past.
Please be patient in pick up and drop off lines as well. The matience department, school board, and school leadership has worked very hard this summer to redo parking lot plans ect. in order to make pickup and drop-off smoother. Give it a few days of patience to work out any kinks that may arise, and for everyone to get into the flow of things.
On that note, I hope all of our teachers, staff, faculty, bus drivers, and kids have a wonderful, safe, and exciting first day of school tomorrow!
