(a) The operator of a motor vehicle, including authorized emergency vehicles under section 1015 of this title, upon meeting or overtaking a vehicle marked and equipped as provided in section 1283 of this title which has stopped on the highway for the purpose of receiving or discharging public or private schoolchildren, shall stop his or her vehicle immediately and shall keep it stationary while the flashing red signal lights are in operation.

(b) The driver of a vehicle need not stop upon a highway with separate roadways upon meeting or overtaking a school bus which is on a different roadway, or upon a controlled access highway where the school bus is stopped in a loading zone which is a part of or adjacent to the highway at a point where pedestrians are not permitted to cross the roadway. (Added 1971, No. 258 (Adj. Sess.), § 3, eff. March 1, 1973; amended 1975, No. 149 (Adj. Sess.), § 3; 1981, No. 97, § 3.)