Inspectors from New Jersey’s Motor Vehicle Commission scoped out a big, yellow 54-seat school bus. It’s one of 120 vehicles on the lot at Belair Transport in Orange. The 180-point checklist includes the engine, brakes, tires, safety lights, exits and the escape hatches. In newer buses, there are safety cameras that show kids walking through the driver’s blind spots.
“Twice a year, we do a thorough inspection of every single bus in every single fleet that serves the school children of New Jersey — whether public, parochial or charter school,” said Motor Vehicle Commission Chair and Chief Administrator Sue Fulton.
Fulton says that’s 23,400 buses inspected every six months, and more than 77,000 inspections every year. The results are posted online where you can search results for your district, and even your kid’s individual bus. The latest statistics show 46 percent of buses get taken out of service on first inspection to fix issues. Another 12 percent get 30 days to resolve smaller problems.
“The most common we find is actually outside lights — blown headlights, stop lights, taillights, clip lights. Those are the most common we will find,” MVC safety inspector William Evans said.
Meanwhile, there’s some apparent confusion over when school buses are going to be outfitted with the new, three-point safety harnesses. The Legislature passed a bill, and the governor signed it into law.
“This is one step, I hope of many more, to keep our kids and their adult chaperones safe. Now this is all as a result of a horrific accident on May 17,” Gov. Phil Murphy said in a video released on twitter.
A student and teacher from Paramus died in the accident, and the 77-year-old driver is charged with death by auto. About 9,000 New Jersey school buses — mostly the small, 22-seaters — already have three-point belts. But the law only requires them in new vehicles, and school buses retire after 15 years. So equipping the entire fleet statewide could take eight or nine years.
“We transition out about 2,000 buses a year, so we’re looking about 15,000 buses that’ll have to get transitioned over,” said Tom Bednarz, MVC director of inspection services.
The Motor Vehicle Commission is also reviewing 17 different points of school bus driver training and medical certification with the Department of Education. It concerns bus companies like Belair — which finds hiring drivers is a struggle.
“Lately it’s been really, really difficult finding qualified drivers. With the new guidelines where the drivers are supposed to be more responsible for checking under the hood, checking the fluids — it really scares a lot of prospective drivers. And that is one of the big hurdles we have to overcome,” said Jason Allora, managing partner of Belair Transport.
Allora says Belair will buy 10 to 15 new buses with the three-point belts within a year. All of his buses have passed inspection.
