What is a driver?

What was this School Bus Driver thinking?

• I have two questions, if you are stopped next to a school bus, and your still far behind the stop sign are you violating any rules? And what was this school bus driver thinking? (Story below.) A week ago I was driving down a two way street and I know for a fact that there are a lot of school buses that stop and drop little kids off on this street, its also one those fast roads. I do understand that when those red lights are flashing, and that stop sign is out that you must stop. I have had to stop for school buses many times before but this time it was…..different. When I was driving down this two way street, I saw as school bus ahead of me on the opposite side of road, and it was driving toward me. Its yellow flashing lights where on the whole time and it made no move to slow down or pull over. And by the time I was next to it, the school bus made a quick move to pull over and stop, so I slowed down and stopped too, my reasoning being that that red stop sign would come out very soon, and it did. Even at point I was still far behind the stop sign completely stopped! Here is the messed up part, the bus driver honked at me twice and gave me one of those you are a big idiot looks, and through his arms up in a very dramatic fashion, he did this before he even put his stop sign out, and their where no red lights either!? Which kind of ticketed me off considering I didn't have any control over the fact my car was stopped next to the bus and yet still behind the stop sign. Putting aside the fact that the bus driver never made any indication other then pulling over suddenly, that would tell other divers they need to stop soon. I would also like to point out that when bus driver first stopped the bus, he started opening the doors and letting kids off before putting his sign out and still no flashing red lights! In all honesty I think he should have checked to see if there where any other cars that where already around him. You can never predict what the other driver will do, and I am just glad I was paying attention. I feel though that the bus driver is at fault because he confused the other drivers by using his horn and dramatic body language and not his flashing red lights or stop sign as a way to tell other drivers that he wanted them to stop. Only after he put his sign back did I proceed, and I had to wonder why this bus driver was being so dramatic before he had even bothered to stick his sign out? Last time I checked school buses use stop signs and red flashing lights to tell other drivers to stop, not horns and dramatic body language, and they don’t let kids off the bus without telling other cars to stop first. This bus driver chose to use a rather conventional methods to communicate with other cars, and could have created a bad situation. So what could this bus driver been thinking, I have no clue but if any one has a few thoughts I would to hear them.

• Answer:

  Something was wrong with the bus. He thought the red lights were on. If the yellow lights are on and the bus is working correctly, then the red lights automatically go on when the door is opened. The drivers cannot turn on the red lights without opening the door. To open the door without turning on the red lights, they have to flip a switch to kill the power to those lights. He did not know that the lights were not working right, and thought that the red lights were on, because he had the yellow lights on and then opened the door.