A reader wrote the The News Tribune in Tacoma, Washington and painted the following picture: He was riding his bike on a two-lane highway and came upon a stopped school bus with its red lights flashing and stop arm extended.
The reader continued that, because he saw no children crossing, he slowed down but continued past the bus. Was this a legal or illegal maneuver?
A reporter responded by citing the state’s “Traffic Laws applying to persons riding bicycles,” which reads that all bicyclists “shall be granted all of the rights and shall be subject to all of the duties applicable to the driver of a vehicle.” Subsection 1 goes onto to explain that bicyclists must adhere to the same laws governing motorists. This means coming to a complete stop when approaching the bus and remaining so “ntil such school bus resumes motion or the visual signals are no longer activated.”
The Tacoma Police Department verified the law for the reporter, as a spokesperson added, “On a two-lane road, traffic in both directions must stop for the school-bus indicators. As bicyclists are the same as vehicles on the roadway, the same applies.
“The bicyclist should have stopped until the indicators were turned off.”
