Driver's License Test Prep
Oregon Practice Sharing the Road

You're driving on a road with a painted median (yellow stripes between the directions of travel) and a school bus on the OPPOSITE side flashes its red lights. What must you do?

  1. A.
    Stop only if you are driving in the right-hand lane.
  2. B.
    A painted median acts like a divided highway, so you may continue past the bus.
  3. C.
    All lanes must stop because a painted median is not a divider. Correct
  4. D.
    Stop only when children are visible getting on or off the bus.
The Why

The answer is "All lanes must stop because a painted median is not a divider."

All lanes must stop. Oregon's manual is explicit that a painted median strip or turn lane does not create two separate roads. The divided-highway exception applies only when an unpaved median strip or a physical barrier separates the directions of travel; paint alone does not qualify. Reading a painted median as equivalent to a physical barrier is what makes B tempting; the manual explicitly rejects that equivalence.

Why the others miss

The traps in the wrong answers

A. Stop only if you are driving in the right-hand lane.

All lanes must stop; lane position does not change the rule when the road is split only by paint. This answer treats the stop rule as lane-specific, but the manual requires all lanes of traffic to stop.

B. A painted median acts like a divided highway, so you may continue past the bus.

The manual states a painted median does not create two separate roads, so the divided-highway exception does not apply. This answer treats a painted median as equivalent to a divided highway, the exact equivalence the manual rules out.

D. Stop only when children are visible getting on or off the bus.

The flashing red lights are the trigger to stop, not whether children are visible. This answer substitutes visibility of children for the actual trigger, which is the flashing red lights on the bus.

The Rule

This question tests your knowledge of Sharing the Road in Oregon. Source: Oregon Driver Manual, "School Buses," p.55..

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