{"id":48,"date":"2009-08-10T19:43:45","date_gmt":"2009-08-11T00:43:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.alanporter.com\/2009-08-10\/do-not-pass-go-do-not-collect-200"},"modified":"2009-08-10T19:43:45","modified_gmt":"2009-08-11T00:43:45","slug":"do-not-pass-go-do-not-collect-200","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alanporter.com\/blog\/2009\/08\/10\/do-not-pass-go-do-not-collect-200\/","title":{"rendered":"Do not pass? Go? Do not collect $200?"},"content":{"rendered":"

On my morning commute to work, I travel along a five-lane highway (two lanes in each direction, plus a shared turn lane). There is a bus stop in front of a large apartment complex, and the bus picks up a huge bunch of kids there.<\/p>\n

Every morning, this south-bound bus stops in front of the apartment complex, and several dozen kids get on, taking their sweet time (as kids do). All of the south-bound cars are blocked while the bus is stopped.<\/p>\n

At this time, I am usually wondering why that bus does not pull into the apartment complex’s driveway. After all, they are blocking a major roadway during a busy morning commute time.<\/p>\n

But it gets worse… not only are all of the SOUTH-bound cars stopped. But the NORTH-bound cars are stopped as well!<\/p>\n

North Carolina law does not require the drivers in the opposing lane to stop. But most drivers are not that familiar with the details of the traffic laws. And I suppose that when faced with this choice — either err on the side of stopping when not necessary, or err on the side of passing a stopped school bus — most people would take the more conservative option.<\/p>\n

The North Carolina Driver’s Handbook<\/a> can be downloaded from the DMV’s web site<\/a>.<\/p>\n

On page 43, you’ll see this picture:
\n

\"passing_a_bus.png\"<\/center>
\nAnd this is the explanation:<\/p>\n

Roadway of four lanes or more with a center turning lane<\/strong>: When school bus stops for passengers, only traffic following the bus must stop.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Of course, it also goes on to say:<\/p>\n

Children waiting for the bus or leaving the bus might dart out into traffic. Even when the school bus is not in sight, children at a bus stop sometimes will run into the street unexpectedly. Always be careful around school buses and school bus stops.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So, as always, common sense does<\/strong> apply.<\/p>\n

I have considered what I might do if I happened to be the first north-bound car to approach as that school bus stopped in the south-bound lane. Would I keep going (with caution, of course)? Or would I stop, just because my fellow citizens might sneer at me for “breaking the law” and for driving with a reckless disregard for out children’s safety?<\/p>\n

THINK of the CHILDREN!<\/strong><\/p>\n

How would a police officer react if he were driving right behind me?<\/p>\n

I am not saying that stopping for the bus is a bad thing. But I am amused to see how people react when the rules are ambiguous, or when they are incompatible with what seems like a universal blanket rule (Thou shalt stop<\/em>). Would you<\/strong> want to be the one who follows the letter of the law, but who appears to be a scofflaw?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On my morning commute to work, I travel along a five-lane highway (two lanes in each direction, plus a shared turn lane). There is a bus stop in front of a large apartment complex, and the bus picks up a huge bunch of kids there. Every morning, this south-bound bus stops in front of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-madness","count-0","even alt","author-alan","last"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanporter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanporter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanporter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanporter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanporter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alanporter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanporter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanporter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanporter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}