§ 340.200. Stopping For School Bus.

A. 

The driver of a vehicle upon a highway upon meeting or overtaking from either direction any school bus which has stopped on the highway for the purpose of receiving or discharging any school children and whose driver has in the manner prescribed by law given the signal to stop shall stop the vehicle before reaching such school bus and shall not proceed until such school bus resumes motion or until signaled by its driver to proceed.

B. 

Every bus used for the transportation of school children shall bear upon the front and rear thereon a plainly visible sign containing the words "School Bus" in letters not less than eight (8) inches in height. Each bus shall have lettered on the rear in plain and distinct type the following: "State Law: Stop While Bus is Loading and Unloading". Each school bus subject to the provisions of Sections 304.050 to 304.070, RSMo., shall be equipped with a mechanical and electrical signaling device approved by the State Board of Education which will display a signal plainly visible from the front and rear and indicating intention to stop.

C. 

Every school bus operated to transport students in the public school system which has a gross vehicle weight rating of more than ten thousand (10,000) pounds, which has the engine mounted entirely in front of the windshield and the entrance door behind the front wheels, and which is used for the transportation of school children shall be equipped with a crossing control arm. The crossing control arm, when activated, shall extend a minimum of five (5) feet six (6) inches from the face of the front bumper. The crossing control arm shall be attached on the right side of the front bumper and shall be activated by the same controls which activate the mechanical and electrical signaling devices described in Subsection (B) of this Section. This Subsection may be cited as "Jessica's Law" in commemoration of Jessica Leicht and all other Missouri school children who have been injured or killed during the operation of a school bus.

D. 

Except as otherwise provided in this Section, the driver of a school bus in the process of loading or unloading students upon a street or highway shall activate the mechanical and electrical signaling devices, in the manner prescribed by the State Board of Education, to communicate to drivers of other vehicles that students are loading or unloading. A public school district has the authority pursuant to Section 304.050, RSMo., to adopt a policy which provides that the driver of a school bus in the process of loading or unloading students upon a divided highway of four (4) or more lanes may pull off of the main roadway and load or unload students without activating the mechanical and electrical signaling devices in a manner which gives the signal for other drivers to stop and may use the amber signaling devices to alert motorists that the school bus is slowing to a stop; provided that the passengers are not required to cross any traffic lanes and also provided that the emergency flashing signal lights are activated in a manner which indicates that drivers should proceed with caution and, in such case, the driver of a vehicle may proceed past the school bus with due caution. No driver of a school bus shall take on or discharge passengers at any location upon a highway consisting of four (4) or more lanes of traffic, whether or not divided by a median or barrier, in such manner as to require the passengers to cross more than two (2) lanes of traffic; nor shall any passengers be taken on or discharged while the vehicle is upon the road or highway proper unless the vehicle so stopped is plainly visible for at least five hundred (500) feet in each direction to drivers of other vehicles in the case of a highway with no shoulder and a speed limit greater than sixty (60) miles per hour and at least three hundred (300) feet in each direction to drivers of other vehicles upon other highways, and on all highways, only for such time as is actually necessary to take on and discharge passengers.

E. 

The driver of a vehicle upon a highway with separate roadways need not stop upon meeting or overtaking a school bus which is on a different roadway, which is proceeding in the opposite direction on a highway containing four (4) or more lanes of traffic, or which is stopped in a loading zone constituting a part of, or adjacent to, a limited or controlled access highway at a point where pedestrians are not permitted to cross the roadway.