§ 12-32. School buses; stopping for, etc.

(a)

The driver of a vehicle upon a highway upon meeting or overtaking from either direction any school bus which has stopped on the highway for the purpose of receiving or discharging any schoolchildren and whose driver has in the manner prescribed by law given the signal to stop, shall stop the vehicle before reaching such school bus and shall not proceed until such school bus resumes motion, or until signaled by its driver to proceed.

(b)

Every bus used for the transportation of school-children shall bear upon the front and rear thereon a plainly visible sign containing the words "school bus" in letters not less than eight inches in height. Each bus shall have lettered on the rear in plain and distinct type the following: "State Law: Stop while bus is loading and unloading." Each school bus subject to the provisions of sections 304.050 to 304.070, RSMo, shall be equipped with a mechanical and electrical signaling device, which will display a signal plainly visible from the front and rear and indicating intention to stop.

(c)

No driver of a school bus shall take on or discharge passengers at any location upon a highway consisting of four or more lanes of traffic, whether or not divided by a median or barrier, in such manner as to require the passengers to cross more than two lanes of traffic; nor shall he take on or discharge passengers while the vehicle is upon the road or highway proper unless the vehicle so stopped is plainly visible for at least 300 feet in each direction to drivers of other vehicles upon the highway and then only for such time as is actually necessary to take on and discharge passengers.

(d)

The driver of a vehicle upon a highway with separate roadways need not stop upon meeting or overtaking a school bus which is on a different roadway, which is proceeding in the opposite direction on a highway containing four or more lanes of traffic, or which is stopped in a loading zone constituting a part of, or adjacent to, a limited-access or controlled-access highway at a point where pedestrians are not permitted to cross the roadway.

(e)

The driver of any school bus driving upon the highways after loading or unloading schoolchildren, should remain stopped if the bus is followed by three or more vehicles, until such vehicles have been permitted to pass the school bus, if the conditions prevailing make it safe to do so.

State law reference

For similar provisions, see RSMo 304.050.