Colorado § 42-4-1903 - School buses - stops - signs - passing - penalty - definition.

§ 42-4-1903. School buses - stops - signs - passing - penalty - definition.

(1) (a) The driver of a motor vehicle upon any highway, road, or street, upon meeting or overtaking from either direction any school bus that has stopped, shall stop the vehicle at least twenty feet before reaching the school bus if visual signal lights as specified in subsection (2) of this section have been actuated on the school bus. The driver shall not proceed until the visual signal lights are no longer being actuated.

(b) (I) A driver of any school bus who observes a violation of paragraph (a) of this subsection (1) shall notify the driver's school district transportation dispatcher. The school bus driver shall provide the school district transportation dispatcher with the color, basic description, and license plate number of the vehicle involved in the violation, information pertaining to the identity of the alleged violator, and the time and the approximate location at which the violation occurred. Any school district transportation dispatcher who has received information by a school bus driver concerning a violation of paragraph (a) of this subsection (1) shall provide such information to the appropriate law enforcement agency or agencies.

(II) A law enforcement agency may issue a citation on the basis of the information supplied to it pursuant to subparagraph (I) of this paragraph (b) to the driver of the vehicle involved in the violation.

(2) (a) Every school bus as defined in section 42-1-102 (88), other than a small passenger-type vehicle having a seating capacity of not more than twelve, used for the transportation of schoolchildren must:

(I) Bear upon the front and rear of such school bus plainly visible and legible signs containing the words "SCHOOL BUS" in letters not less than eight inches in height; and

(II) Display eight visual signal lights meeting the requirements of 49 CFR 571.108 or its successor regulation.

(a.5) Every multifunction school activity bus as defined in section 42-1-102 (60.1) must bear on the front and rear of the bus the words "ACTIVITY BUS" in black letters not less than eight inches in height.

(b) (I) The red visual signal lights shall be actuated by the driver of the school bus whenever the school bus is stopped for the purpose of receiving or discharging schoolchildren, is stopped because it is behind another school bus that is receiving or discharging passengers, or, except as provided in subsection (4) of this section, is stopped because it has met a school bus traveling in a different direction that is receiving or discharging passengers and at no other time; but such lights need not be actuated when a school bus is stopped at locations where the local traffic regulatory authority has by prior written designation declared such actuation unnecessary.

(II) A school bus shall be exempt from the provisions of subparagraph (I) of this paragraph (b) when stopped for the purpose of discharging or loading passengers who require the assistance of a lift device only when no passenger is required to cross the roadway. Such buses shall stop as far to the right off the roadway as possible to reduce obstruction to traffic.

(c) The alternating flashing yellow lights shall be actuated at least two hundred feet prior to the point where the bus is to be stopped for the purpose of receiving or discharging schoolchildren, and the red lights shall be actuated only at the time the bus is actually stopped.

(3) Every school bus used for the transportation of schoolchildren, except those small passenger-type vehicles described in subsection (1) of this section and multifunction school activity buses, must be equipped with school bus pedestrian safety devices that comply with 49 CFR 571.131 or its successor regulation.

(4) The driver of a vehicle upon a highway with separate roadways need not stop upon meeting or passing a school bus that is on a different roadway. As used in this section, "highway with separate roadways" means a highway that is divided into two or more roadways by a depressed or raised median, physical barriers, or other intervening space serving as a clearly indicated section or island that physically divides the roadways.

(5) Every school bus shall stop as far to the right of the roadway as possible before discharging or loading passengers; except that the school bus may block the lane of traffic when a passenger being received or discharged is required to cross the roadway. When possible, a school bus shall not stop where the visibility is obscured for a distance of two hundred feet either way from the bus. The driver of a school bus that has stopped shall allow time for any vehicles that have stopped behind the school bus to pass the school bus, if such passing is legally permissible where the school bus is stopped, after the visual signal lights, if any, are no longer being displayed or actuated and after all children who have embarked or disembarked from the bus are safe from traffic.

(6) (a) Except as provided in paragraph (b) of this subsection (6), any person who violates any provision of paragraph (a) of subsection (1) of this section commits a class 2 misdemeanor traffic offense.

(b) Any person who violates the provisions of paragraph (a) of subsection (1) of this section commits a class 1 misdemeanor traffic offense if such person has been convicted within the previous five years of a violation of paragraph (a) of subsection (1) of this section.

(7) The provisions of this section shall not apply in the case of public transportation programs for pupil transportation under section 22-51-104 (1)(c), C.R.S.

Source: L. 94: Entire title amended with relocations, p. 2436, § 1, effective January 1, 1995. L. 95: (1)(a), (2)(b)(II), and (5) amended, p. 960, § 20, effective May 25. L. 97: (2)(a), (2)(b)(I), (2)(c), (3), and (5) amended, p. 1387, § 8, effective July 1. L. 98: (2)(b)(I) and (5) amended, p. 100, § 1, effective March 23. L. 2008: (2)(a)(II) and (3) amended, p. 373, § 1, effective August 5. L. 2009: (1)(a) amended, (HB 09-1236), ch. 86, p. 312, § 1, effective August 5. L. 2025: (1)(a), IP(2)(a), and (3) amended and (2)(a.5) added, (HB 25-1320), ch. 236, p. 1177, § 29, effective May 23; (4) amended, (HB 25-1230), ch. 249, p. 1249, § 2, effective May 24.

Editor's note: This section is similar to former § 42-4-612 as it existed prior to 1994.

Cross references: (1) For penalties for class 1 and class 2 misdemeanor traffic offenses, see § 42-4-1701 (3)(a)(II).

(2) For the legislative declaration in HB 25-1320, see section 1 of chapter 236, Session Laws of Colorado 2025.

ANNOTATION

Annotator's note. Since § 42-4-1903 is similar to § 42-4-612 as it existed prior to the 1994 amending of title 42 as enacted by SB 94-1, a relevant case construing that provision has been included with the annotations to this section.

Section not applicable to parties in collision of two automobiles. Where two automobiles were involved in a collision at an intersection, none of the parties to an action arising out of the collision are within the purview of this section; for the intent of the enactment was neither exclusively, nor in part, to protect any interest of either of them. Any violation of it did not constitute a breach of any statutory duty owed, either to the violator or to the other party. Its provisions, therefore, are not determinative of any action between them. Hamilton v. Gravinsky, 174 Colo. 206, 483 P.2d 385 (1971).

Presence of school bus not determinative of negligence as matter of law. The presence of the school bus at the intersection was a factor the jury could properly consider when making its determinations on the questions of the negligence of the respective parties to this case, under ordinary negligence principles; but its presence, and the existence of the statute regulating it, was not determinative, as a matter of law, of the issue of negligence. Hamilton v. Gravinsky, 28 Colo. App. 408, 474 P.2d 185 (1970), aff'd in part, rev'd in part on other grounds, 174 Colo. 206, 483 P.2d 385 (1971).

Violation only makes one liable to person in class protected by section. A statute or ordinance may, because of its title, preamble, history or otherwise, be construed as intended to protect only the interests of a particular class of individuals. If so, a violation of the enactment can make the actor liable only to a person of that class. Hamilton v. Gravinsky, 28 Colo. App. 408, 474 P.2d 185 (1970), aff'd in part, rev'd in part on other grounds, 174 Colo. 206, 483 P.2d 385 (1971).