Driving past a stopped school bus with flashing lights in PA is subject to a fine, points, and a license suspension.
Presumed Pennsylvania resident and Redditor /u/rob71788 posted up disturbing dashcam footage yesterday to the /r/IdiotsInCars subreddit showing the moment a driver in a red Ford Explorer blew by a stopped school bus with flashing lights letting out kids after school.
Check out the dashcam footage for yourself below.
[oc] That’s a 60 day suspension, $250, and five points here in PA
byu/rob71788 inIdiotsInCars
The incident happened on the 500 block of E Emmaus Ave in Allentown, PA (Exact location on Google Maps linked here.)
As /u/rob71788’s video shows he’s travelling on E Emmaus Ave when the school bus in front of him stops at the intersection with Filbert St. and turns on their flashers to let kids off.
I can’t see from the driver’s POV but presumably the school bus driver’s also deployed the stop arm, too.
Drivers coming from both directions are supposed to stop 10 feet away from stopped school buses until the school bus retracts the stop arm, turns off their flashers, and merges back into traffic.
In this instance, the bus stops to let kids off, but a driver in a red mid-2000s Ford Explorer blows by the stopped bus while kids are disembarking.
“I got a good look at the guy driving, he was waving his hands deep in conversation, completely oblivious to his surroundings,” OP commented.
Thankfully no kids went to the other side of the street or this could’ve turned out a whole lot worse.
“Man, that (passing a stopped bus) is one of my straight-to-f***ing jail hot buttons,” /u/garden-wicket-581 commented.
“Excellent that the driver will hopefully be getting a nice ticket in the mail. They had more than enough time/warning to stop and just chose to ignore it,” /u/GreaterDivinity also replied.
As mentioned, blowing by a bus like this in PA is subject to between a $250-300 fine, five points on your record, and a sixty-day license suspension.
There’s no excuse for this type of bad driving behavior.
Do you not see that vehicle right in front of that of that one doing the same exact thing?! 2 vehicles blowing through the flashing lights!
The bus was not at a complete stop at the time the white car had passed. The bus probably had just turned on its flashing lights.
As for wondering if the driver of the bus put out its “Stop” arm? ….. It doesn’t seem to matter, because the cars behind the suv, stopped!
I find a lot of people who don’t know the motor vehicle laws here in Pennsylvania. This is a great example. Also see people going too fast in construction zones and not giving emergency responders enough space near accidents. I’ve also experienced people driving around cones, set up to close certain roadways or lanes of traffic during an accident. And don’t get me started on distracted, drivers and driving.
There seems to be a little problem here. Why are the Red Ligjts on the Bus not flashing and the arm is not deployed as it should be. The initial statement says the bus driver stopped at an intersection. The flashing lights look to be the yellow caution lights that go on everytime the driver stops. The law in Pa. Says nothing about those ligjts.If the video
had continued to show it was stopped for students entering or exiting thr bus it might have been a clearer view of the supposed infraction of the driver in the red SUV when the white vehicle also drove through while those lights were flashing.
You can clearly see lights flashing yellow while bus moving and white car passing and turning to red once bus stops and also children exiting with red flashing lights when suv went through, you would not be able to see stop arm from this angle being its near front of bus, yes the pa law does state with flashing red lights you must stop, did you actually watch the whole video
Yes I watched the video. The red lights are next to the flashing lights. I also did not see any students entering or exiting the bus unless you are watching a different video than I am.
You are correct on the students exiting the bus. Watching it on Reddiit allowed an expanded view. I still stand by my comment on which lights were flashing as the bus appears to have the red lights on the inner side of the 4 lights. Either way it was definitely a distracteddriver not paying attention.