SEPTEMBER 29, 2003

East Lansing.  The Michigan State Police announce that their 13 vehicle safety inspectors conducted a comprehensive 198-point equipment safety inspection on 17,326 school buses during the 2002-2003 school year.  That number is down slightly from the last year since many schools did not buy new buses because of budget constraints, and/or sold older ones.  The percentage of school buses passing on the first inspection continues to rise, up to 85.92 percent (14,887 buses) from 84.88 percent (15,423 buses) last year.

"This demonstrates a continuing commitment to the overall level of school bus safety in Michigan," stated

Capt. Robert R. Powers, commanding officer of the State Police Motor Carrier Division.  Captain Powers added, "The men and women responsible for maintaining school bus fleets across Michigan deserve a lot of credit for keeping school bus safety at such a high priority."

The number of "red-tagged" buses dropped to 1,795 buses, while the percentage increased slightly to 10.36 percent.  Last school year, 1,800 buses (9.91 percent) received red tags.  A red-tagged bus can not be used to transport pupils until the defect(s) is repaired.

"Yellow-tagged" buses, which allows up to 60 days to make repairs of less serious defects, dropped to 644 (3.72 percent) from 947 (5.21 percent) in 2001-2002.

Complete inspection results for Michigan's 872 public and private school bus fleets can be found on the Michigan State Police website www.michigan.gov/msp.

The Michigan State Police will be awarding a Certificate of Excellence to each school district that achieved a 100 percent pass rate on the first inspection.  A total of 261 schools will be receiving the certificate this year, up from 250 last year.  An additional 12 schools will be recognized for achieving a 95-99 percent pass rate on the first inspection.

The Pupil Transportation Act, P.A. 187 of 1990, mandates the Michigan State Police inspect each school bus annually.

Read more press releases from the Michigan State Police.