Minnesota Session Laws - 1984, Regular Session

  

                         Laws of Minnesota 1984 

                        CHAPTER 403-H.F.No. 1408
           An act relating to public safety; traffic regulations; 
          regulating school buses; amending Minnesota Statutes 
          1982, sections 169.01, subdivision 6; 169.44, 
          subdivisions 1c, 2, 8, and 15; 169.45; and 171.01, by 
          adding a subdivision. 
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
    Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 1982, section 169.01, 
subdivision 6, is amended to read: 
    Subd. 6.  [SCHOOL BUS.] "School bus" means every a motor 
vehicle owned by a public or governmental agency and operated 
for the transportation of children to or from school or 
privately owned and operated for compensation for the 
transportation of children to or from school used to transport 
pupils to or from a school defined in section 120.10, or to or 
from school-related activities, by the school or a school 
district, or by someone under an agreement with the school or a 
school district.  A school bus does not include a motor vehicle 
transporting children to or from school for which parents or 
guardians receive direct compensation from a school district, a 
motor coach operating under charter carrier authority, or a 
transit bus providing services as defined in section 174.22, 
subdivision 7.  
    Sec. 2.  Minnesota Statutes 1982, section 169.44, 
subdivision 1c, is amended to read: 
    Subd. 1c.  [VIOLATION; PENALTY.] (1) A peace officer may 
arrest the driver of a motor vehicle if the peace officer has 
probable cause to believe that the driver has operated the 
vehicle in violation of subdivision 1 within the past two four 
hours.  
    (2) The owner or, in the case of a leased vehicle, the 
lessee of a motor vehicle, may be fined not to exceed $100, if a 
motor vehicle owned or leased by the person is operated in 
violation of subdivision 1.  The owner or lessee may not be so 
fined if the motor vehicle was stolen, or if conviction of 
another is had for a violation of subdivision 1.  This 
subdivision does not apply to a lessor of a motor vehicle if the 
lessor keeps a record of the name and address of the lessee.  
This subdivision does not prohibit or limit the prosecution of a 
motor vehicle operator for violating subdivision 1.  A violation 
of this clause does not constitute grounds for revocation or 
suspension of the owner's driver's license. 
    Sec. 3.  Minnesota Statutes 1982, section 169.44, 
subdivision 2, is amended to read: 
    Subd. 2.  [LOADING AND UNLOADING PASSENGERS; USE OF 
SIGNALS.] (a) Drivers of a vehicle outwardly equipped and 
identified as a school bus shall actuate the pre-warning 
flashing amber signals of the bus before stopping to load or 
unload a school child or children at least 300 feet when 
operating outside an incorporated municipality and at least 100 
feet when operating within an incorporated municipality and, 
upon stopping for such purpose, such drivers shall extend the 
stop signal arm and actuate the flashing red signals and shall 
not retract the stop signal arm and extinguish the flashing red 
signals until loading or unloading is completed and persons who 
must cross the street or highway are safely across. 
             (b) School bus drivers shall not actuate the pre-warning 
flashing amber signals or flashing red signals: 
             (1) in special school bus loading areas where the bus is 
entirely off the traveled portion of the road; 
             (2) in residence or business districts of cities except 
when directed by the local school administrator; 
             (3) when a school bus is being used on a highway for 
purposes other than the actual transportation of school children 
to or from school or a school approved activity, in which event 
the words "school bus" on the front and rear of the bus shall be 
removed or completely concealed; and 
             (4) at railroad grade crossings. 
             (c) Where school children must cross the road before 
boarding or after being discharged from the bus, the driver of a 
school bus or a school bus patrol may supervise such crossings 
making use of the standard school patrol flag or signal as 
approved and prescribed by the commissioner of public safety.  
When children are alighting from a school bus, and not crossing 
the road, the driver shall visually ascertain that alighting 
children shall be a safe distance from the bus before moving the 
bus. 
    (d) Vehicles not outwardly equipped and identified as 
school buses shall load or unload school children only from the 
right hand side of the vehicle, except on a one way street such 
vehicle shall load or unload school children only from the curb 
side of the vehicle. 
    Sec. 4.  Minnesota Statutes 1982, section 169.44, 
subdivision 8, is amended to read: 
    Subd. 8.  [VEHICLES USED AS OTHER THAN SCHOOL BUSES.] A 
vehicle bus which is no longer not used as a school bus shall 
not be operated on a public street or highway unless it is 
painted a color other significantly different than that required 
by law for school buses, including for purposes of this 
subdivision, Minnesota school bus golden orange, and all it may 
not be equipped with school bus related equipment and printing 
shall be removed from said vehicles.  Violation of this 
subdivision is a misdemeanor. 
    Sec. 5.  Minnesota Statutes 1982, section 169.44, 
subdivision 15, is amended to read: 
    Subd. 15.  [TYPE THREE SCHOOL BUS.] Type three school buses 
are restricted to passenger cars, station wagons, and vans with 
a maximum manufacturer's rated seating capacity of ten persons 
including the driver, and a gross vehicle weight rating of 
10,000 pounds or less.  For purposes of this subdivision, a 
"gross vehicle weight rating" or "GVW rating" means the value 
specified by the manufacturer as the loaded weight of a single 
vehicle.  
    A type three school bus shall not in any way be outwardly 
equipped and identified as a school bus, as defined in 
subdivision 1a.  
    Sec. 6.  Minnesota Statutes 1982, section 169.45, is 
amended to read: 
    169.45 [SCHOOL BUSES.] 
    The state board of education shall have has sole and 
exclusive authority to adopt and enforce regulations rules not 
inconsistent with this chapter to govern the design, color, and 
operation of school buses used for the transportation of school 
children, when owned and operated by a school district or 
privately owned and operated under a contract with a school 
district, and these regulations shall rules must be made a part 
of any such that contract by reference.  Each school district, 
its officers and employees, and each person employed under such 
a the contract is subject to these regulations. 
    Sec. 7.  Minnesota Statutes 1982, section 171.01, is 
amended by adding a subdivision to read:  
    Subd. 21.  [SCHOOL BUS.] "School bus" means a motor vehicle 
used to transport pupils to or from a school defined in section 
120.10, or to or from school-related activities, by the school 
or a school district or by someone under an agreement with the 
school or a school district.  A school bus does not include a 
motor vehicle transporting children to or from school for which 
parents or guardians receive direct compensation from a school 
district, a motor coach operating under charter carrier 
authority, or a transit bus providing services as defined in 
section 174.22, subdivision 7. 
    Approved April 19, 1984