The Ontario school bus law is simple to state and expensive to break. When a stopped school bus flashes its upper red lights and swings out its stop arm, traffic has to stop, and the penalty for rolling past is one of the heaviest a new driver can face. Here is exactly when you stop, how far back, and what it costs if you do not.<\/p>\n
Stop when a school bus ahead of you, or coming toward you, shows flashing red lights at the top. Those lights mean children are getting on or off. Stop well back, at least 20 metres, and stay stopped until the red lights turn off or the bus starts moving again. The amber lights are the warning that red is coming, the same way a traffic signal turns yellow before red, so ease off and get ready to stop when you see them.<\/p>\n
The one case where oncoming traffic does not stop is a road split by a median or a raised barrier. On a divided road, only the vehicles behind the bus stop, and traffic coming the other way may keep going. On any undivided road, including most city streets and rural roads, both directions stop. If you are not sure the road counts as divided, stop anyway. It is the safe answer on the road and the correct answer on the test.<\/p>\n
Passing a stopped school bus is a serious offence in Ontario. A first conviction carries a fine of 400 to 2,000 dollars and six demerit points. A second offence within five years can bring a fine of 1,000 to 4,000 dollars, six more demerit points, and up to six months in jail. Six points is a heavy load against a new licence, and you can see how the totals and suspensions work in how Ontario demerit points work<\/a>. Many buses now carry cameras that record the plate of a passing vehicle, so an empty road is no protection.<\/p>\n School bus rules test whether you can read a signal and act early, which is exactly what the G1 knowledge test is checking. Learn the light order, amber and then red, and the single divided-road exception, and the question becomes an easy mark. It is also part of a wider theme on the test about protecting the people around your vehicle, which the signs section reinforces in the signs that catch new drivers<\/a>.<\/p>\n Red lights mean stop: from both directions on an undivided road, and from behind the bus on a divided one, until the lights switch off. That single sentence covers almost every school bus question you will meet, on the test and on the road. Treat a bus showing amber lights the way you treat a fresh yellow signal, and you will already be slowing before the red comes on. When in real doubt about the road, stop and wait; nobody is ever penalised for stopping for a school bus.<\/p>\n Keep reading:<\/strong> sharing the road with buses, cyclists and emergency vehicles<\/a> and right of way in Ontario explained<\/a>.<\/p>\nWhy it shows up on the G1<\/h2>\n
The Ontario school bus law in one line<\/h2>\n