Received ticket for passing a school bus (redirected from Received ticket for passing a school bus )

Ask a Lawyer

Question

Country: United States of America
State: Ohio

I received a ticket for passing a school bus with its lights on. The ticket was received a week and a half after the incident. We were leaving my son's school and as we were leaving the parking lot, we had to wait for a school bus to go by, which did not have it's lights on at that time, before we could pull out of the lot. The bus pulled over to the right of the one Way Street the school is located on and stopped in the loading and unloading area in front of the school. By the time we had pulled out and was going around the bus, we noticed the lights were on at that time.(there was a stop sign that was out on the side of the bus). This happened around 4:20pm and there is no school in session at that time. By the time we saw the lights were on, we were practically already past the bus. I have never seen the buses with their lights on in front of the school when they are loading and unloading children. There were no children on the bus and there were none outside waiting either. I thought that when a bus is in a loading area, that they are not to have their lights on. Is this not correct? Can you tell me what the law is on this and what could possibly happen to me? I have not had any violations in the past year, at least. When the officer gave me the ticket at my house, he said that when I should up for court that I would be asked how I plead. That did not happen. I was asked if I wanted to consult counsel, so I said yes. Now the paperwork says that I pled not guilty, which I never said that. I wanted to plead no contest. I have never encountered anything like this and am rather nervous/scared. Can you help me?

Answer

You can explain just what you have done here; you only have to stop if the lights are indeed on...