September 13, 2004

East Lansing.  The Michigan State Police, Motor Carrier Division announce that their Vehicle Safety Inspectors conducted a comprehensive equipment safety inspection on 17,372 school buses during the 2003-2003 school year, up slightly from last year by 42 buses.  The percentage of school buses passing the inspection dropped from the steady increase experienced over the previous 5 years.  This year 83% (14,447 buses) passed, down from 85.92% (14,887 buses) last year.

"While the slight decrease is disappointing, Michigan still enjoys a very high level of school bus safety," stated Capt. Robert R. Powers, commanding officer of the State Police Motor Carrier Division.

Vehicle Safety Inspectors "red-tagged" 2,181 school buses representing 12.5% of the state's fleet.  This represents a 2.15% increase over buses 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) is repaired.

Vehicle Safety Inspectors identified 744 school buses, 4.28% of the state's school bus fleet, that were "yellow-tagged".  This represents a 1.55% increase over school buses  yellow-tagged last year.  Vehicles identified with less serious safety defects are given a yellow-tag which requires that the defects be repaired within 60 days.

Complete inspection results for Michigan's 1,049 public and private school bus fleets can be found on the Michigan State Police web site www.michigan.gov/msp.

The Michigan State Police will be awarding a Certificate of Excellence to each school district that achieved a 100% pass rate on the first inspection.  A total of 190 schools will be receiving the certificate this year, down from 261 last year.  An additional 59 schools will be recognized for achieving a 95-99% pass rate on the first inspection, up from 12 last year.

The Pupil Transportation Act (P.A. 187 of 1990) mandates the Michigan State Police inspect each school bus annually.  There are 13 Vehicle Safety Inspectors statewide who conduct the 198-point safety inspections.

Read more press releases from the Michigan State Police.