When a school bus is stopped with red lights flashing, you must stop

1. whether you are approaching or following the bus ✓
2. only if the bus is ahead of you
3. even if you are approaching the bus and there is a barrier separating the traffic lanes
4. only if you are approaching the bus rather than following it

Answer: A. whether you are approaching or following the bus

You must stop for a school bus showing flashing red lights whether you are approaching it from the front or following behind it.

Why this is the answer

The handbook says that when a school bus has alternating flashing red lights at the top, you must stop whether you are coming toward it or trailing it, and that vehicles in all lanes must stop. It also tells you to stay stopped until the bus pulls away or the driver turns the lights off and brings the stop sign back in. So the direction you happen to be travelling from does not decide it — the red lights do.

Why the other answers are wrong

• B. only if the bus is ahead of you — The handbook does not limit the stop to buses ahead of you; it says to stop when approaching from the front as well as from the rear.
• C. even if you are approaching the bus and there is a barrier separating the traffic lanes — The passage says vehicles in all lanes must stop and gives no exception for a barrier between lanes, so the stop rule is stated without that condition.
• D. only if you are approaching the bus rather than following it — Approaching the bus from the front is exactly one of the two cases the handbook names, so stopping only when you are not following misses half the rule.

Remember it

Red lights on top of the bus mean stop, no matter which side of the bus you are on.