A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to increase the penalty for passing a stopped school bus and to make school bus stops safer.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  G.S. 20‑217(a) reads as rewritten:
"(a)	The driver of any vehicle upon approaching from any direction on the same street, highway, or public vehicular area any school bus (including privately owned buses transporting children and school buses transporting senior citizens under G.S. 115C‑243), while the bus is displaying its mechanical stop signal or flashing red stoplights, and is stopped for the purpose of receiving or discharging passengers, shall bring the vehicle to a full stop and shall remain stopped until the mechanical stop signal has been withdrawn, the flashing red stoplights have been turned off, and the bus has moved on before passing or attempting to pass the bus."
SECTION 2.  G.S. 20‑217(b) reads as rewritten:
"(b)	The provisions of this section are applicable only in the event the school bus bears upon the front and rear a plainly visible sign containing the words 'school bus.'"
SECTION 3.  G.S. 20‑217(e) reads as rewritten:
"(e)	 Except as provided in subsection (g) of this section, any person violating the provisions of this section shall be guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor."
SECTION 4.  G.S. 20‑217 is amended by adding a new subsection to read:
"(g)	Any person who violates subsection (a) of this section and strikes any person causing serious bodily injury to that person shall be guilty of a Class I felony."
SECTION 5.  This act becomes effective December 1, 2005, and applies to offenses committed on or after that date.