The law is that when a school bus deploys its Stop sign and turns on the red flashing lights, drivers are required to stop. The law does not say “except when you’re on a four-lane street with a center turn lane”. Yes, there is more distance between one side and the bus so it’s less likely that a kid is going to go running out and get hit, but it’s still the law to stop.
Oh man, a few months ago I blew right past a bus with it’s sign out. I saw it, and it blew the horn at me, and I just didn’t process what was going on until I was past it.
Depends on the jurisdiction. In Ohio, where you have four lanes with a center turn lane, drivers going in the opposite direction in the non-center lane are not required to stop. (Four lanes without a center turn lane or less and you must stop.)
Looks like you’re right. It’s “three or more lanes” that qualifies, but some people are stretching it to mean one lane in each direction plus the center turn lane. The place I was at has two in both directions plus the center.
Another tidbit: in this state, it’s legal to make a left turn onto a one-way street without waiting for the traffic light to turn green.
That’s not legal in some places?
Nope. And some states don’t allow right on red.
In Texas, on roadways divided by medians, school bus red lights are only for the side the bus is on.
I just drive. And make U turns and left on red and all that crap.
Hell, just a couple weeks ago I pulled a u turn in the middle of a one way street… that’s what happens when you pull on to it going the wrong way. Thankfully it was around 8 AM on a Sunday. I could have done donuts for 20 minutes and not gotten in anyone’s way.
Mind reading is not a legal requirement for pedestrians.
Indicating, however, is a legal requirement for cars that are turning.
Give me all the dirty looks you like, unless you let me know where you are going I can’t make allowances.
It’s a good thing I’m in the habit of backing out slowly and carefully out of my driveway. There is no way I could have seen you if you hadn’t stopped. Your car is so short it’s almost a go-kart. I don’t know what make it is, but it’s only about 2/3 as tall as a VW Beetle.
I got in the habit of backing into my drive. That way I have the best visibility when I’m pulling out and use the lesser visibility while backing into my drive.
Think about it: Your driveway is (probably) a fairly well known and controlled space, while the street is more chaotic. (As demonstrated by the go-cart).
Back into a known space, pull out into a less controlled one
or
Pull into a known space, back out into the less controlled one.
No-brainer for me.
It depends on your situation. We live in a quiet street so backing out isn’t a problem. I very much prefer to have the exhaust pipe pointing out of the garage rather than into the house, so we go in forwards 
I usually back into my driveway for that very reason, but the way the manual transmission works on my truck, I often have to wait until I see that there won’t be any traffic for at least half a minute before I can even think about getting ready to back in. Sometimes I don’t want to wait that long, and sometimes people will come up to the corner while I’m waiting for the street to get clear.
It’s an old truck and the transmission is one of those that needs to sync before I can go from forward to reverse (about 5-10 seconds). Otherwise, I’ll grind gears if I do it too soon. Then there’s the fact that the truck has quite a bit of inertia for forward and reverse, so I have to rev the engine a little higher and slip the clutch to avoid having it suddenly lurch and try to go faster than I need at that point. And there are bushes on my property that combine with the parts of my canopy that I can’t see through to make a pretty large blind spot.
That tip about backing into spots also works when you’re arriving at a sporting event, concert, etc. Everyone’s in a hurry to leave after it’s done, so if you can start by going forward instead of reversing, you’re ahead of the game.
Someone, somewhere funded a study to determine that backing in is safer (predetermined? hmmmm?..), so some of the energy industry companies around here have hopped on the bandwagon and now require reverse parking at facilities/campuses they own. I back in at home and work most of the time, so I don’t have a problem with it, but some people are not fans. When one specific client implemented it as a policy, there were a lot of complaints. Most of the complaints were from women, which pissed off a lot of women. (I’d love to see a venn diagram of that!) I’m curious if they were upset that it was mostly women complaining, or that someone counted. Either way, it has been maybe a year and everyone seems to have gotten used to it. I’m sure some folks will park way out so they can pull through and park without backing up, but they’re just cheating themselves. I know there has to be exceptions, but for the most part, I think it is a training and confidence problem. No one has showed them how, and they’re unfamiliar with the situational awareness required (gotta know where your car ends even if you can’t see it!), and they haven’t practiced. In fairness, you’re going in with reduced visibility and trying to hit a smaller target (or avoid hitting things around that target
) than when backing into a nice big aisle or roadway… my wife won’t back into the driveway, just refuses to try, says she can’t do it. BS. She can, she just doesn’t want to try, learn, get used to it (practice makes perfect?).
Oops, at risk of turning into a rant… better cut it off.
I back in at work every day. That way I can get the hell out of there faster at the end of the day… 
Always park, pointing your horses for home.
Ahh, yes, but you are awesome, not ordinary ![]()
Yeah, a garage would change things… but I don’t use ours… it’s under the house, and small.
We call backing into a driveway or space “Parking Like Batman” (phrase coined by @sig’s older brother).
I wish drivers could hear me telling them not to put on the brakes or slow down ten miles under the speed limit 20-100 feet before an exit ramp. You slow down ON the ramp, not WAY BEFORE the ramp! My dad used to gripe about that all the time, too.
It’s called Tactical Parking
What is it with all the people driving in the carpool lane with no passengers going the same speed as the traffic in the lane next to them?
“I hope you get a ticket!”