USA Bus Lines

I stopped too close to a stopping school bus but did not pass it...?

I am a 17 year old male from New York, have never been in any sort of trouble either with the law or even with my school. I was driving one day and I saw a bus with the yellow flashers on coming in the opposite direction. There was on car in front of me and we both readily slowed down. The bus just kept slowly coming toward our two cars as both my car and the one in front of me cautiously proceeded. I knew the car in front of me was confused as well because it stopped, while the bus still had yellow flashers on, and then the car quickly sped by the bus, leaving me in the awkward situation. The bus then stopped completely and put the red flashers and stop signs out, so I immediately came to a complete stop where I was, not wanting to go any further and risk passing the stop signs. As I was now, admittedly, too close to the bus, the bus driver angrily motioned for me too back up, which I did. She then proceeded to write something on a piece of paper (I'm guessing my License Plate Number) and we both traveled in opposite directions. No police officer saw what happened, and I am not trying to get out of it or say it was not my fault, I made a mistake and did not know where the bus driver was going to stop, and therefore I traveled too far and was in a terrible location. I am a very cautious driver, and a worrisome person, (as you can see by me writing this questions no more than two hours after the incident). I have not been contacted by the police, but am wanting to know what sort of consequences I am facing, and believe me I know I made a mistake and should be punished, I just don't want to go to jail! If any police officers or others with knowledge of situations such as mine could enlighten me I would really appreciate being prepared for what is coming my way. I feel horrible that I made this mistake. Thanks...

Public Comments

1. If anything is going to happen you will receive it by the mail and you wont go to jail but you saw the yellow lights and at that point you should have already been expecting what was going to happen and never assume.
2. Make a copy of what you have written here. If any one contacts you (which I doubt they will) show them what your position was . I don't think you have any problem.
3. I wouldn't have backed up cos that put you in a dangerous situation. Backing is should be avoided. She was taking your tag number down to report. Depends where you stopped. If you were past the driver, tooooo far. If you were right at the driver, hell, you stopped, yer fine.
4. Don't follow closely.
5. For future reference, if the bus is moving, keep moving past the bus before it comes to a complete stop so you don't get caught in that situation. A moving bus cannot drop off kids so you couldn't be a danger at that point.
6. The bus driver made a mistake. She should have never motioned for you to back up. She had no right to do that. What she should have done upon seeing that you were too close was to have cancelled the red signal and motioned you forward. After you had cleared the bus she could have turned the reds back on and safely discharged her passengers. I am a school bus driver and I would never presume to indicate that a driver in the opposing lane should ever back up on a public street. That is putting that driver in a chargeable position. And I would never knowingly put another driver in that position either. It is my responsibility to assure that all cars around me are given sufficient warning before I activate the boarding signals; not force them into a reportable position. Although my ultimate responsability is to the safety of my passengers, that does not give me the right to be a road vigilante. If I had been you in the same situation I would have just turned on my four way flashers and stayed right where I was.