What type of lighting is essential for school bus safety?

The correct answer emphasizes the critical role that stop lights, turn signals, and hazard lights play in ensuring the safety of school bus operations. These specific lighting functions are essential for communicating the bus's actions and intentions to other drivers and pedestrians. Stop lights signal when the bus is coming to a halt, which is vital for the safety of children boarding or deboarding. Turn signals indicate when the bus is preparing to change direction, helping to prevent accidents by alerting nearby vehicles.

Hazard lights serve as a warning system during emergencies, ensuring that the bus remains visible even if it is stationary. This visibility is particularly crucial in areas where children are present or when the bus is stopped for unloading and loading students. Proper functioning of these lights is regulated by law, reflecting their importance in transportation safety protocols.

While interior lights, dashboard indicators, headlights, fog lights, ambient lighting, and courtesy lights have their own importance, they do not specifically address the safety requirements related to the active operations of the bus like stop lights, turn signals, and hazard lights do. Hence, option C represents the most essential type of lighting for the safety of school buses.