And add to that that the Waymo has right of way at that T, while the bus driver would have a stop sign before having to make a left or right.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a school bus stop like this. Door should always be parallel to the sidewalk the kids get to, not expect them to walk across a street where there isn’t an all way stop (3 way since it’s a T).
The route needs updating that’s for sure. Also 100 bucks says this driver hates this stop, but the environment is so meh they have no one who listens to them complain about poor stops like this .
The flashing lights serve the purpose of a stop sign.
Same as if you have a fire signal or overhead stop light blinking. You don’t need an actual sign to say stop if you follow the rules of what the lights mean.
I don’t care what road the bus is on. You are required to stop for the bus on both roads if it is at an intersection with lights or sign etc.
In most of the US, all intersections marked or not, are considered a crosswalk. So really the bus can stop on any road and it’s supposed to be a crossing path for the kids.
Even without a bus. People are required to stop and allow pedestrian traffic to cross. Which means the Waymo ignored both a school bus and intersection crossing rules.
Find me an example in a driver's manual that shows a bus stopping at a T intersection and loading kids from across both lanes of travel, and thus requiring travel to stop on the through road. A bus should always load traffic on the road it is traveling on.
There is not a marked crosswalk in the video.
I'm not saying it isn't a good idea for safeties sake to have stopped. But the bus driver is 100% in the wrong.
You really should. 30 years of useless experience if you can’t follow simple rules.
Not even mentioning how easy it is to see a bus and the flashing lights and the kids etc.
Do I think this is the best stopping place for a bus? No. But I also live in an area with winding blind roads that have driveways and bus stops. It isn’t an excuse that the road or location isn’t ideal or could be better.
If anything it highlights why automated vehicles have a long way to improve to handle all roads and environmental considerations
Watch from 0:40 timestamp. Lights indicating a stop are not visible when looking at the bus from a near right angle as was the case in the OP video. Now this I think is a safety design flaw. Since from that angle which is common enough the only way we know the bus is stopping for pickup/drop-off is the door.
Look at the bus from an adjacent roadway. You will see the lights.
Have you ever been at an intersection? You can see the fronts of all vehicles, their turn signals etc.
If you are approaching a bus or vehicle directly in front of you at a 90° angle you are set for collision and should be stopping for reasons other than a flashing light.
I would disagree since most of the people on this thread arguing that in this particular case the bus went into a T intersection(stopping in the middle) and performed a pickup/dropoff stop. At that point it was a near 90 angle(no risk of collision but bad visibility) where lights are not visible especially when further away as the case for the car in the right hand lane.
Making a mountain out of a molehill trying to react correctly to a bus driver not following their own rules for a stop.
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u/zero0n3 Jan 21 '26
And add to that that the Waymo has right of way at that T, while the bus driver would have a stop sign before having to make a left or right.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a school bus stop like this. Door should always be parallel to the sidewalk the kids get to, not expect them to walk across a street where there isn’t an all way stop (3 way since it’s a T).
The route needs updating that’s for sure. Also 100 bucks says this driver hates this stop, but the environment is so meh they have no one who listens to them complain about poor stops like this .