September 21, 2006

East Lansing -  The Michigan State Police (MSP) Motor Carrier Division has completed its annual inspection of school buses with 88.6 percent or 15,513 buses passing inspection, which is up from 85 percent last year.

Vehicle safety inspectors conducted a comprehensive 198-point equipment safety inspection on 17,502 school buses during the 2005-2006 school year, which is 216 buses less than last school year.

"With the overwhelming majority of buses passing inspection, school bus transportation managers continue to demonstrate a commitment to school bus safety that translates into a safer pupil transportation environment for Michigan’s school children," stated Capt. Robert R. Powers, commander of the MSP Motor Carrier Division.

Vehicle safety inspectors red-tagged 1,556 school buses, representing 8.9 percent of the school buses in the state. This is a 2.1 percent decrease compared to the 1,981 buses or 11 percent that were red-tagged last year. A red-tagged bus is immediately placed out-of- service and cannot be used to transport pupils until the defect(s) are repaired.

Vehicle safety inspectors also identified 433 school buses, representing 2.5 percent of the fleet, which received yellow tags. This is a 4 percent decrease from the number of yellow tags given last year. Yellow-tagged buses have less serious safety defects and must be repaired within 60 days.

A total of 310 school districts will receive a Certificate of Excellence for achieving a 100 percent pass rate on their first inspection; up from 252 school districts last year. An additional 70 school districts achieved a 95 percent – 99 percent pass rate on the first inspection; up from 67 the previous year.

The Pupil Transportation Act (P.A. 187 of 1990) mandates the MSP inspect each school bus annually. There are 13 vehicle safety inspectors statewide who conduct the inspections.

Complete inspection results for Michigan’s 1,083 public and private school bus fleets can be found on the MSP web site at www.michigan.gov/msp

Read more news releases from the Michigan State Police.