11104840D
SENATE BILL NO. 769
AMENDMENT IN THE NATURE OF A SUBSTITUTE
(Proposed by the Senate Committee for Courts of Justice
on February 2, 2011)
(Patrons Prior to Substitute--Senators Marsden and Vogel [SB
1248])
A BILL to amend and reenact § 46.2-859 of the Code of
Virginia, relating to passing a stopped school bus.
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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