School buses — New Jersey Permit Test
School buses on the New Jersey permit test — 4 rules, each with the reason behind it and a question on it while it is fresh.
The rules
A driver must stop at least 25 feet from a school bus with flashing red lights on a two-lane road or a multi-lane road divided by lines.
Children cross in front of the bus where the driver cannot see them and you cannot either.
State law requires a motorist to stop at least 25 feet away if they are traveling on a two-lane road or on a multi-lane highway where lanes are only separated by lines, or on a privately maintained road.
On a dual-lane highway a driver on the far side of a safety island or raised median slows to 10 mph for a stopped school bus.
A median keeps the children off your side of the road, so the rule asks for slow rather than stopped.
When traveling on a dual-lane highway, a motorist should slow to 10 mph if on the other side of a safety island or raised median.
A school bus shows yellow lights before it stops and red lights once it has stopped.
The yellow is your warning to start slowing. By the time the red is on, children are moving.
The yellow (or amber) lights go on before the bus stops and the red lights go on when the bus has stopped.
A driver may pass a school bus stopped in front of a school at no more than 10 mph, from either direction.
Outside a school the children are on the sidewalk side, so the law lets traffic creep past.
a motorist may pass from either direction at a speed of no more than 10 mph.
On the test
How far from a stopped school bus must a New Jersey driver stop?
At least 25 feet away. Children cross in front of the bus where the driver cannot see them and you cannot either. New Jersey Driver Manual, p.77: “State law requires a motorist to stop at least 25 feet away if they are traveling on a two-lane road or on a multi-lane highway where lanes are only separated by lines, or on a privately maintained road.”
How this works
Most practice tests hand you a bank of questions and leave the manual somewhere else. This one puts them together.
You read one law and the reason behind it, then answer a question on that law while it is still fresh. Get it right and you move on; get it wrong and you have found the gap while it is cheap to fix, not on the morning of the exam.
Learning one rule at a time, and proving it immediately, is what turns a manual you skimmed into something you actually know — and it makes studying feel like getting somewhere rather than like waiting to find out.
What it costs
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Where these come from
Every rule here is checked against New Jersey Driver Manual, published by the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission, and against the state code itself. Last checked 2026-09-15.