A law requiring drivers to stop for school buses that, when read literally, lets drivers off the hook will likely change in the Virginia General Assembly.
Del. Scott Surovell, D-Mt. Vernon, has pre-filed a bill to close a loophole in the law, which has been on the books for 40 years without anyone noticing until a recent court ruling by a Fairfax County Circuit judge.
The loophole hinges on a single missing word: “at.” When added in brackets, the law reads: “A person is guilty of reckless driving who fails to stop, when approaching from any direction, [at] any school bus which is stopped…”
When read literally the law says, in effect, that a person is guilty of reckless driving if he or she fails to stop any school bus. A lawyer successfully defended a driver in Woodbridge by pointing out the state legislature’s error.
Surovell’s bill will add the all important word “at” and change “person” to “driver of a motor vehicle.”
