With the arrival of September comes the joy of traveling with buses on the road. Anyone who has gotten stuck behind a bus making upward of 10 stops, knows the pain associated with this. But the kids have to get to school somehow, so car and buses must learn to live peaceably. Thankfully, there are rules about these things, not to mention subsequent fines for the rule breakers.
On that note, welcome to our new monthly feature highlighting a traffic infraction. We've teamed up with traffic enforcement officer Bill Dexter at the Concord Police Department to bring you the latest in road safety. Props to Bill for coming up with the idea! And props to him for listening to excuses from us drivers, because that's going to fuel most of the content – Bill's idea was to talk about commonly violated rules, the stuff we claim to have no recollection of when pulled over. See? Won't this be a helpful feature? You're quite welcome, readers.
Now that the kids are back it school, what better topic for your return to traffic school than buses? Bill gave us some printouts from the New Hampshire General Court website with the various rules and regulations regarding school buses. If you want to see the longest sentences EVER, try reading Title XXI Motor Vehicles, chapter 265, section 265:54. We're talking like 25 words minimum to spit out one thought. Thanks for the thrilling read, Bill! (Just kidding. Sort of.)
Allow us to save you the trouble of reading all the legal mumbo jumbo yourself. Here's what you need to know:
– If you're meeting or overtaking a bus that's stopping to pick up or drop off kids, stop at least 25 feet away.
– Bus drivers and witnesses can report violators for not obeying the above rule, and their eyewitness account is enough to hand the wayward driver a fine of $100-$750 for the first offense. The second offense costs $250-$1000 and could result in suspension of driving privileges for 30 days. And good luck getting someone to give you a ride because you were endangering school children. You can't play the sympathy card on that one.
– This one is for the bus drivers: If there are five or more vehicles behind you, pull over and let them pass. (The bus must have enough space to pull off the road entirely, allowing cars to pass without crossing the painted line).
That was fun, right? Now let's talk about speed limits in school zones – another one Bill says is violated often.
This rule is mercifully short:
– In a posted school zone, you must drive 10 miles per hour below the usual posted speed limit 45 minutes before school starts and 45 minutes before school closes.
Lucky for you, all of Concord's school zones are marked by signs with flashing yellow lights. That also means you can't say you didn't know school was starting if you get caught for speeding in a school zone.
You've all been attentive students today – why don't you treat yourself to an ice cream cone as a treat for good behavior? And you know what to do if you run into a school bus on the way.
Class dismissed.
