Passing Passenger Carriers

Passing Passenger Carriers. (a) No operator of a vehicle which meets or overtakes any vehicle that has stopped for the purpose of taking on or discharging passengers may pass the stopped vehicle on the side on which passengers are entering or leaving the vehicle until the stopped vehicle has started and any passengers who may have alighted have reached the side of the highway. But where a safety zone has been established, or at an intersection where traffic is controlled by a police officer or mechanical traffic signal, a vehicle need not be brought to a full stop before passing a stopped passenger vehicle, but may proceed past the vehicle at a speed not greater than is reasonable and proper and in no event at a speed greater than 10 miles per hour, and shall exercise due caution for the safety of all pedestrians. (b) Every school bus, when operated for the transportation of school pupils, shall bear upon the front and rear thereof a plainly visible sign containing the words “School Bus - Stop” in letters not less than eight inches in height and of proportionate width. No vehicle, other than a school bus, shall display such a sign. (c) The operator of any vehicle, whenever approaching upon any highway from either direction any school bus which is equipped with signs as required by subsection (b) of this section and which has stopped for the purpose of receiving or discharging any passengers, shall at once bring his or her vehicle to a complete stop and may not proceed to pass the school bus from either direction until all passengers in the immediate area of the bus have been received into or discharged from the bus and have reached a position of safety from vehicular traffic and visual signals of the school bus are no longer activated. Source: PL 3-61, § 1 (§ 542).