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2011 SESSION
11105336DBe 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.