VIRGINIA ACTS OF ASSEMBLY -- CHAPTER
An Act to amend and reenact § 46.2-859 of the Code of
Virginia, relating to passing a stopped school bus.
[S 769]
Approved
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. That § 46.2-859 of the Code of Virginia is amended and
reenacted as follows:
§ 46.2-859. Passing a stopped school bus; prima facie
evidence.
A person is guilty of reckless driving who fails to driving
a motor vehicle shall stop, such vehicle when approaching,
from any direction, any school bus which is stopped on any highway, private road
or school driveway for the purpose of taking on or discharging children, the
elderly, or mentally or physically handicapped persons, and to shall remain
stopped until all the persons are clear of the highway, private road or school
driveway and the bus is put in motion; any person violating the foregoing is
guilty of reckless driving. The driver of a vehicle, however, need not stop
when approaching a school bus if the school bus is stopped on the other roadway
of a divided highway, on an access road, or on a driveway when the other
roadway, access road, or driveway is separated from the roadway on which he is
driving by a physical barrier or an unpaved area. The driver of a vehicle also
need not stop when approaching a school bus which is loading or discharging
passengers from or onto property immediately adjacent to a school if the driver
is directed by a law-enforcement officer or other duly authorized uniformed
school crossing guard to pass the school bus. This section shall apply to
school buses which are equipped with warning devices prescribed in § 46.2-1090
and are painted yellow with the words "School Bus" in black letters
at least eight inches high on the front and rear thereof. Only school buses
which are painted yellow and equipped with the required lettering and warning
devices shall be identified as school buses.
The testimony of the school bus driver, the supervisor of
school buses or a law-enforcement officer that the vehicle was yellow,
conspicuously marked as a school bus, and equipped with warning devices as
prescribed in § 46.2-1090 is prima facie evidence that the vehicle is a school
bus.
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