HOUSE BILL REPORT

HB 1338

BYRepresentatives Cole, Peery, Schoon, Rayburn, Scott and Rust

Regulating passing school buses.

House Committe on Education

Majority Report: Do pass with amendments. (17)

Signed by Representatives Peery, Chair; G. Fisher, Vice Chair; Betrozoff, Ranking Republican Member; Brumsickle, Cole, Dorn, Fuhrman, Holland, Jones, Phillips, Pruitt, Rasmussen, Rayburn, Schoon, Valle, Walker and K. Wilson.

House Staff:Susan Patrick (786-7111)

AS REPORTED BY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION FEBRUARY 23, 1989

BACKGROUND:

School buses are not required to display a visual bus signal and stop traffic when children do not have to cross a highway and the bus is stopped completely off the main traveled portion of the roadway.

SUMMARY:

BILL AS AMENDED: The driver of a vehicle, when overtaking or meeting a school bus which is stopped on a roadway from either direction, shall stop before reaching the bus when the visual signal is activated and the bus is discharging or receiving students. The visual signal on a school bus shall be activated by the bus driver when the bus is stopped on a roadway for the purpose of receiving or discharging school children. An exception to this rule is when school children do not have to cross a highway and the bus is stopped completely off the main traveled portion of the roadway and when the school bus driver shall actuate the hazard warning lights before loading or unloading the students.

On multiple lane roadways the bus route shall serve each side of the roadway for preschool through grade six students so that the child does not have to cross the roadway, unless there is a traffic signal or adult crossing guard within 500 feet of the bus stop. Drivers of a vehicle upon a multiple lane roadway need not stop upon meeting a school bus traveling in the opposite direction which is stopped for the purpose of receiving or discharging school children on an oncoming travel lane.

For purposes of this section the following definitions apply:

1) Main traveled portion of the roadway means the portion of a roadway designed for the through movement of vehicular traffic exclusive of sidewalks, shoulders, parking spaces, and public transit and other loading zones;

2) Multiple lane roadway means a roadway which provides for the two-way movement of vehicular traffic and which at the point a school bus is stopped to receive or discharge students has either a total of three or more adjacent lanes for the through movement of traffic or two lanes for the through movement of traffic separated by a two-way left turn lane.

There are no changes in the requirements for school bus drivers and drivers of other vehicles when the school bus is stopped on the main traveled portion of a two lane, two-way roadway for receiving or discharging students.

AMENDED BILL COMPARED TO ORIGINAL: Provisions which would require that the bus visual signal, extending stop sign, not be activated when a school bus has stopped off the main traveled portion of the roadway when discharging and receiving students is eliminated. This provision is replaced by a requirement that when students do not have to cross the roadway and the bus is stopped off the main traveled portion of the roadway the bus driver does not need to extend the stop sign, but shall activate warning lights when discharging and receiving students. This does not require the drivers on the main traveled portion of the roadway to stop.

A provision is added requiring the school bus to discharge students in grades preschool through six on both sides of a multiple lane roadway unless there is a traffic signal or adult crossing guard within 500 feet of the bus stop. A driver of a vehicle on a multiple lane roadway need not stop upon meeting a school bus traveling in the opposite direction when the school bus stops to receive or discharge children on an oncoming lane. Definitions are added for the terms "main traveled portion of the roadway" and "multiple lane roadway."

Fiscal Note: Not Requested.

House Committee ‑ Testified For: Representative Cole; Don Carnahan, Superintendent of Public Instruction.

House Committee - Testified Against: None Presented.

House Committee - Testimony For: There have been several situations where a child has been killed by a car when the school bus was stopped but did not have its signal arm extended or its lights flashing. In these cases, the bus was complying with existing law. There has been a change in the traffic patterns that we must control in transporting students. A group of individuals representing the Department of Transportation, city and county traffic planners, the Washington State Patrol, and the Superintendent of Public Instruction are working to correct this problem with the assistance of the Legislature.

House Committee - Testimony Against: None Presented.