8.1 School Buses, Emergency Vehicles, and the Move Over Law

8.1 School Buses, Emergency Vehicles, and the Move Over Law

Quick Answer: Indiana school buses use amber and red flashing lights. Amber means the bus is slowing to load or unload. Once it stops, red lights and the stop arm activate, and you must stop. If the roadway is divided by a barrier or unimproved median, stop only if you are traveling in the same direction as the bus. Disregarding a stop arm is a Class A misdemeanor, a Level 6 felony if it causes bodily injury, or a Level 5 felony if it causes death. Move Over (IC 9-21-8-35) requires you to yield the right of way, move over to the right and come to a complete stop, or change lanes when approaching an emergency vehicle with lights flashing. For alternately flashing red, red and white, or red and blue, change lanes away; if you cannot, reduce speed to 10 mph under the posted limit and proceed with caution — Class A Infraction. Amber authorized parked vehicles and disabled vehicles with hazard flashers use the same 10-under / change-lanes rule — Class B Infraction. School buses also stop at railroad crossings.

The Indiana BMV knowledge exam tests this material on the traffic maneuvers and rules component (Driver's Manual Chapter 7). These are not courtesy tips. They are stop, yield, and criminal-level rules that decide whether a child, a firefighter, or a disabled motorist walks away.

A law enforcement officer directing traffic, and an official funeral or other official procession, already have the right-of-way rules from Chapter 6 of this guide — obey the officer even when a signal disagrees, and do not cut a procession on green. This section is about school buses and Move Over, not a second pass through those officer and procession rules.

School bus lights: amber first, then red and the stop arm

School buses are equipped with both amber and red flashing lights. Learn the sequence; the exam will swap the colors.

When the driver activates the amber lights, the bus is not yet a red-light stop. It is the warning that a stop is coming. Be prepared to stop when yellow flashing lights appear on the bus. Treating amber as "keep rolling until red" is how you rear-end a bus that is already braking.

Once the bus stops, the red lights and stop arm will be activated. That combination is the legal stop command.

Who must stop, and the divided-road exception

You must stop when you approach a school bus with flashing red lights activated and stop arm extended.

The only official exception in the Driver's Manual is directional and physical: If you are driving on a roadway divided by a barrier or unimproved median, you are required to stop only if you are traveling in the same direction as the school bus.

That exception is narrow:

• A painted yellow line is not a barrier and is not an unimproved median. Opposite-direction traffic on an ordinary two-lane road stops.
• A paved center turn lane is not a barrier. Both directions stop.
• A concrete barrier, cable barrier, or unimproved median (grass or dirt separating the roadways) is the exception. Opposite-direction traffic may continue. Same-direction traffic still stops.

Do not invent a "I don't see kids" exception. The trigger is flashing red lights and stop arm extended, not a child already in your lane.

Children at the stop, not only the bus

The Driver's Manual's blunt line: the biggest threat to children who ride a bus is not the ride but approaching or leaving the bus. When you near a bus stop:

• Watch for children playing or congregating near bus stops.
• Be aware that children arriving late for the bus may dart into the street without looking.
• Be prepared to stop when yellow flashing lights appear on the bus.

A late runner from a yard, a sibling chasing a dropped paper, or a child crossing from behind the bus after the arm folds are the collisions the amber-then-red sequence is trying to prevent. Scan both sides of the road, not just the flashing lamps.

Stop-arm penalties

Disregarding a school bus stop arm is not a "points and a fine" trivia item. The Driver's Manual states the criminal ladder:

Memorize the order: misdemeanor → Level 6 with injury → Level 5 with death. Do not reverse Level 5 and Level 6. Do not downgrade a stop-arm run to an infraction; Move Over infractions are a different statute.

School buses at railroad crossings

School buses stop at railroad crossings. Rear-end collisions involving school buses stopped at those crossings have increased in recent years. A bus that is braking or already stopped short of the rails is doing what the law requires (not closer than 15 feet or farther than 50 feet from the nearest rail — the full crossing chapter covers that 15–50 foot rule). Your job on the knowledge exam and on the road is: expect the stop, do not assume the bus will roll over the tracks, and do not pass within 100 feet of a railroad crossing.

Indiana's Move Over law (IC 9-21-8-35)

Indiana has a Move Over law that requires motorists to yield the right of way; move over to the right and come to a complete stop; or change lanes when approaching an emergency vehicle with its lights flashing.

That opening sentence is two related duties, and the exam will mix them:

1. Yield / pull right / complete stop — the classic response when an authorized emergency vehicle is coming through with lights (and typically a siren): get out of the way to the right and stop.
2. Change lanes away, or if you cannot, 10 mph under the posted limit with caution — the roadside Move Over rule when you approach a vehicle displaying the listed flashing lights.

Emergency vehicles — Class A Infraction

Motorists who approach an emergency vehicle displaying alternately flashing red, red and white, or red and blue lights are required to change lanes away from that authorized vehicle. If you cannot move over, reduce speed to 10 mph under the posted limit and proceed with caution. Failure to comply is a Class A Infraction.

10 mph under the posted limit is not "slow down a little" and not a flat 10 mph. On a 55 mph rural road that you cannot leave, you drop to 45. On a 30 mph city street, you drop to 20. "Posted" is the number on the speed-limit sign, not your previous cruise speed.

Authorized emergency vehicles identified under IC 9-13-2-6 include:

1. Fire department vehicles
2. Police department vehicles
3. Ambulances
4. Emergency vehicles operated by or for hospitals or health and hospital corporations
5. Vehicles designated as emergency vehicles by INDOT (Indiana Department of Transportation)
6. Motor vehicles approved by the Indiana Emergency Medical Services Commission that are ambulances owned by persons, firms, LLCs, or corporations other than hospitals, or that are not ambulances and that provide emergency medical services, including extrication and rescue services
7. Department of Correction vehicles that are designated as emergency vehicles and are responding to an emergency

A DOC vehicle that is simply driving between facilities without that designation and without responding to an emergency is not this list. Rescue/extrication units approved by the EMS Commission are on the list even when they are not a traditional ambulance box.

Authorized parked vehicles with amber lights — Class B Infraction

Motorists who approach an authorized parked vehicle with amber flashing lights must change lanes away. If you cannot move over, reduce speed to 10 mph under the posted limit and proceed with caution. Failure is a Class B Infraction.

Authorized vehicles with amber flashing lights include:

1. Recovery vehicles / tow trucks
2. Highway maintenance vehicles
3. Utility service vehicles
4. Solid waste haulers / trash trucks
5. Survey / construction vehicles

Amber is the work-and-recovery color. Do not wait for red-and-blue before you move over for a tow truck or a trash truck with flashers on the shoulder.

Disabled vehicles with hazard flashers — Class B Infraction

Motorists who approach a disabled stationary vehicle with flashing hazard warning signals must change lanes away. If you cannot, reduce speed to 10 mph under the posted speed limit and proceed with caution. Failure is a Class B Infraction.

A stalled car on I-65 with four-way flashers is not "just a disabled motorist you can blow by at 70." Same 10-under / change-lanes-away rule as amber work vehicles, and the same Class B penalty.

Indiana scenarios

Two-lane county road, no median. A school bus ahead of oncoming traffic has red lights and the stop arm out. You stop. There is no barrier and no unimproved median, so the opposite-direction exception does not apply.

Interstate with a concrete barrier. A bus in the opposite direction has the arm out. You may continue. A bus in your direction with red lights and the arm out still requires your stop (or a full stop behind it in your lanes).

Amber on a neighborhood bus. Yellow flashers come on as the bus slows toward a cluster of kids. Prepare to stop. Do not try to squeeze past before the arm drops.

I-70 shoulder, trooper with red and blue. If a lane is available, change lanes away. If traffic has you boxed in the right lane, drop to 10 mph under the posted limit and pass with caution. Skipping that is a Class A Infraction.

Amber tow truck in a work pull-off. Change lanes away, or 10 under. That failure is Class B, not Class A — different lights, different class.

Four-ways on a disabled sedan. Same 10-under / move-over rule as amber authorized vehicles. Class B Infraction if you do neither.

Bus brake lights at a crossbuck. Expect the railroad stop. Rear-end collisions at those stops have increased.

Exam traps

• Treating amber bus lights as optional and only stopping for red.
• Using a painted center line as a "divided highway" so opposite-direction traffic can roll.
• Stopping for an opposite-direction bus on a barrier-divided roadway (the exception runs the other way: you stop only if you are going the same direction).
• Calling a stop-arm run a Class A infraction. It is a Class A misdemeanor, then felonies with injury or death.
• Reversing Level 6 (injury) and Level 5 (death).
• Using a flat 10 mph instead of 10 mph under the posted limit.
• Applying Class A to amber tow trucks or hazard-flasher disabled cars (those are Class B); applying Class B to red/blue emergency lights (those are Class A).
• Forgetting that school buses stop at railroad crossings.

Amber means get ready. Red and the arm mean stop, unless you are opposite-direction on a true divided roadway. Move over or take 10 under the posted limit, and match Class A to emergency colors and Class B to amber and hazards.