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I need help with this one since you have some experience. School bus 6am with its blinking lights in Mountain View CA about 8 years ago my wife got pulled over

I need help with this one since you have some experience. School bus 6am with its blinking lights in Mountain View CA about 8 years ago my wife got pulled over for driving past (she slowed down but didn't stop and wait). So if this happened at 8 am it would have been kinda legit. This was at 6am where there are no kids outside, taking buses. Entrapment?

Freak_NL 7y ago
No. You don't get to make that call. A stop sign (or in this case a school bus that obliges you to stop) means stop, so you stop. Perhaps a school started early because of a special event? Perhaps a driver in training was making his rounds with an empty bus? You can't know. Don't try to water down reasonable traffic laws because you think you know better. It's not entrapment, because no decent driver would be tempted to ignore a school bus with its blinkers on.
- thaumasiotes 7y ago
  > You don't get to make that call. A stop sign (or in this case a school bus that obliges you to stop) means stop, so you stop. Suppose you're on a motorcycle, you come to a traffic light, and it's red. It's the middle of the night, there is no traffic, and the light will never turn green, because your motorcycle isn't heavy enough to trigger the sensor in the road. This is a pretty common case. Do you need to leave the bike there until day comes and car traffic arrives to save you?
  - zaarn 7y ago
    All traffic lights I've encountered that are triggered use magnetic triggers and work with bikes. Additionally their failsafe for night operation is to go into yield-traffic mode; the yellow light blinks, indicating that the intersection is no longer governed by the light but by the normal right-of-way. As a last option, you can trigger the pedestrian light manually by getting of your bike.
    - rxhernandez 7y ago
      This is absurd; you so clearly have not ridden a motorcycle in California or maybe at all; the number of lights that aren't triggered by a motorcycle is quite large; so large that there is an accessories market for adding a "larger magnetic field" to bikes; getting off the bike is just asking for someone to run you over because they weren't expecting a pedestrian on the roadway (one of those roadways I can think of off the top of my head had a light that wouldn't trigger on a winding freeway off ramp; I was always fearful that a motorist would kill me at this particular light).
      - zaarn 7y ago
        No, I haven't ridden motorcyles in California, since I live in Germany. We probably just have better traffic lights. They even trigger when I use my bicycle! Why are you fearing being run over when walking along a red light?
        magduf 7y ago
        You have better traffic lights then. Many US states have laws the specifically allow motorcycles to run red lights as long as they stop and wait a certain amount of time.
  - 5555624 7y ago
    It depends on the state, as a number of states have "safe on red" laws for motorcycles. In the case of Virginia, motorcycles and bicycles can proceed through the red light after the light cycles twice (skipping their lane) or two minutes. They still have to stop. They still have to yield the right of way.
    - techslave 7y ago
      same in CA. I’d be surprised if this weren’t everywhere.
  - Freak_NL 7y ago
    The situation you sketch is not comparable to the school bus case. Most traffic laws have exemptions for dealing with a force majeure; either explicit or implicit by condoning any reasonable behaviour necessary to mitigate the problem. You're not stuck in the school bus scenario unless the cops who put it there maliciously keep its blinkers on for an unreasonable amount of time until you do pull up again after stopping (which then might be classified as entrapment). rhacker's wife didn't stop.
    - thaumasiotes 7y ago
      > The situation you sketch is not comparable to the school bus case. So what? The argument I responded to didn't use any aspect of the school bus case. It was "You don't get to make the call. A stop sign means stop, so you have to stop." And that argument is obviously bunk. A red traffic light also means stop; it is perfectly comparable to a stop sign.
  - techslave 7y ago
    you wait for “a while” and then you go when it’s safe. this is written into law for exactly this case. please learn the rules
hadlock 7y ago
I have taken a school bus at 6am (on a Saturday, no less) to a regional school event the next state over that started at 9am. My old high school had a "Zero Hour" during weekdays that started at 7:05am for those who had to work after school to support their families, or other obligations like sports in the afternoon. Busses serviced these kids. Combine that with the fact that children are high risk to cross the street without looking both ways for oncoming traffic, and school busses (and only school busses) are traditionally painted yellow as an alarm to the community to be very careful around them as there is a good chance it is hauling children and exceptional caution is to be given.

Freak_NL 7y ago

No. You don't get to make that call. A stop sign (or in this case a school bus that obliges you to stop) means stop, so you stop. Perhaps a school started early because of a special event? Perhaps a driver in training was making his rounds with an empty bus? You can't know. Don't try to water down reasonable traffic laws because you think you know better. It's not entrapment, because no decent driver would be tempted to ignore a school bus with its blinkers on.

thaumasiotes 7y ago
> You don't get to make that call. A stop sign (or in this case a school bus that obliges you to stop) means stop, so you stop. Suppose you're on a motorcycle, you come to a traffic light, and it's red. It's the middle of the night, there is no traffic, and the light will never turn green, because your motorcycle isn't heavy enough to trigger the sensor in the road. This is a pretty common case. Do you need to leave the bike there until day comes and car traffic arrives to save you?
- zaarn 7y ago
  All traffic lights I've encountered that are triggered use magnetic triggers and work with bikes. Additionally their failsafe for night operation is to go into yield-traffic mode; the yellow light blinks, indicating that the intersection is no longer governed by the light but by the normal right-of-way. As a last option, you can trigger the pedestrian light manually by getting of your bike.
  - rxhernandez 7y ago
    This is absurd; you so clearly have not ridden a motorcycle in California or maybe at all; the number of lights that aren't triggered by a motorcycle is quite large; so large that there is an accessories market for adding a "larger magnetic field" to bikes; getting off the bike is just asking for someone to run you over because they weren't expecting a pedestrian on the roadway (one of those roadways I can think of off the top of my head had a light that wouldn't trigger on a winding freeway off ramp; I was always fearful that a motorist would kill me at this particular light).
    - zaarn 7y ago
      No, I haven't ridden motorcyles in California, since I live in Germany. We probably just have better traffic lights. They even trigger when I use my bicycle! Why are you fearing being run over when walking along a red light?
      - magduf 7y ago
        You have better traffic lights then. Many US states have laws the specifically allow motorcycles to run red lights as long as they stop and wait a certain amount of time.
- 5555624 7y ago
  It depends on the state, as a number of states have "safe on red" laws for motorcycles. In the case of Virginia, motorcycles and bicycles can proceed through the red light after the light cycles twice (skipping their lane) or two minutes. They still have to stop. They still have to yield the right of way.
  - techslave 7y ago
    same in CA. I’d be surprised if this weren’t everywhere.
- Freak_NL 7y ago
  The situation you sketch is not comparable to the school bus case. Most traffic laws have exemptions for dealing with a force majeure; either explicit or implicit by condoning any reasonable behaviour necessary to mitigate the problem. You're not stuck in the school bus scenario unless the cops who put it there maliciously keep its blinkers on for an unreasonable amount of time until you do pull up again after stopping (which then might be classified as entrapment). rhacker's wife didn't stop.
  - thaumasiotes 7y ago
    > The situation you sketch is not comparable to the school bus case. So what? The argument I responded to didn't use any aspect of the school bus case. It was "You don't get to make the call. A stop sign means stop, so you have to stop." And that argument is obviously bunk. A red traffic light also means stop; it is perfectly comparable to a stop sign.
- techslave 7y ago
  you wait for “a while” and then you go when it’s safe. this is written into law for exactly this case. please learn the rules

hadlock 7y ago

I have taken a school bus at 6am (on a Saturday, no less) to a regional school event the next state over that started at 9am. My old high school had a "Zero Hour" during weekdays that started at 7:05am for those who had to work after school to support their families, or other obligations like sports in the afternoon. Busses serviced these kids. Combine that with the fact that children are high risk to cross the street without looking both ways for oncoming traffic, and school busses (and only school busses) are traditionally painted yellow as an alarm to the community to be very careful around them as there is a good chance it is hauling children and exceptional caution is to be given.