SEARCH SITE
VIRGINIA LAW PORTAL
- Code of Virginia
- Virginia Administrative Code
- Constitution of Virginia
- Charters
- Authorities
- Compacts
- Uncodified Acts
- RIS Users (account required)
SEARCHABLE DATABASES
- Bills & Resolutions
session legislation - Bill Summaries
session summaries - Reports to the General Assembly
House and Senate documents - Legislative Liaisons
State agency contacts
ACROSS SESSIONS
- Subject Index: Since 1995
- Bills & Resolutions: Since 1994
- Summaries: Since 1994
Developed and maintained by the Division of Legislative Automated Systems.
1998 SESSION
988769310Be 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.
A. A person shall be guilty of reckless driving who fails to stop,
when approaching from any direction, any school bus which
that is stopped on any highway or school driveway for the purpose of
taking on or discharging children, the elderly, or mentally or physically
handicapped persons, and to remain stopped until all such persons are clear of
the highway or school driveway and the bus is put in motion. The driver of a
vehicle, however, need not stop when approaching a school bus if such school
bus is stopped on the other roadway of a divided highway, on an access road, or
on a driveway when such 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 that is loading or discharging passengers from or
onto property immediately adjacent to a school if such driver is directed by a
law-enforcement officer or other duly authorized uniformed school crossing
guard to pass such 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.
B. In any prosecution under this section, an affidavit may be filed with the clerk seven days in advance of trial by a local public school board or the governing body of a private school attesting that the school bus, for which the defendant is alleged to have failed to stop in violation of this section, was, at the time of the alleged offense, painted and equipped as provided in the definition of "school bus" in § 46.2-100. Such affidavit shall create a rebuttable presumption that the school bus referred to therein was so painted and equipped. The defendant may produce evidence to refute the evidence contained in the affidavit.