Washington State Patrol school bus fleet safety inspection. Every year, twice yearly, every school district’s bus fleet in the State are subject to inspection by the Commercial Vehicle Division of the State Patrol. Today, was the first of three or four days it will take to complete this task for the school district I work for. Every bus is put through a rigorous series of tests to ensure the children who board our buses are safe.
Among other things the brakes, steering, exhaust system, eight-way light system, horn, exterior/interior lights, seats, fire extinguisher, warning triangles, first aid items, emergency exits and roof hatches, tire inflation etc. are all tested for adherence to high standards of safety.
These tests are conducted by the Washington State Patrol in cooperation with our bus mechanics who are assisted by several drivers to pre-trip and shuttle buses around the yard into and out of the garage where most of the testing occurs. Several years ago our district received recognition as one of the top 10 maintained school bus fleets in the nation. Please know that if your child rides on a school bus in the State of Washington (or any state for that matter) that your district’s fleet is required by law to meet standards that will ensure safe student transportation to and from school.
School begins soon, they have a lot of work to do beforehand.
It was finished today, I walked about 10 miles around the bus yard pre-tripping, delivering and parking buses, and the equivalent of steps (on the bus step wells) of hiking up and down the Empire State Building in New York!
Blimey! It looks like you were very close to that suspended vehicle!
Yes, I was… right next to it… the mechanics walk under, but not I! Lol! ;-)
Hope this same sense of safety standards are followed everywhere. In our part of the world, law enforcement is so lax that these scrupulous bus owners easily get away with dilapidated buses.
I am not sure what safety regulations are in force in other nations.. but one would hope that the safety of school children would be a priority.