1 in 10 Missouri school buses deemed ‘defective’

(KBSI) – Alarming news to parents; one in ten Missouri school buses have been deemed ‘defective’ or out of service, after a recent inspection, calling the safety of the fleet into question.

As Lieutenant with the Public Information and Education Division of the Missouri State Highway Patrol, Eric Brown understands the importance of school buses. Since they are vital forms of transportation to get children to and from schools and sporting events.

“Everyday, every evening, and every morning these buses are on the roads, and we want to make sure that they are operating safely. All the equipment on there is functioning like it’s supposed to, to help prevent crashes and protect students from being involved in a crash.” Brown Said.

According to Brown, year after year, it’s proven that the safest way for children to get to school is being on a school bus. They’re more likely to get into a crash while riding with a parent or teen.

“School buses is the safest mode of transportation to school. It’s something that law enforcement likes to focus on and be sure that those kids get to school safely.” He mentioned.

Which is why audits on school buses are important to school districts. Every year before school starts, the school district of private bus company is responsible for buses to be sure that all equipment and safety features are properly functioning.

The most recent audit, of over 11 thousand buses, found that 895 are defective. 410 are considered out of service, which is one out of ten buses with issues.

He says, “Any of those pieces that are part of the school bus inspection that are damaged or not functioning properly. Will be enough to consider that bus defective.”

Inspectors make sure to look at brakes lighting systems, emissions, control arms. If one of these critical things are deemed out of service, the bus cannot transport children until the defect is resolved and inspected by highway patrol.

Brown wants to reassure parents and students — issues with buses will be taken care of before they put the vehicles back on the road.

“For the ones that have minor defects, whether that be something as simple as a light not functioning, often times while our personnel are at that school district or at that bus company inspecting that bus, they will make those repairs on the spot and have the bus reinspected. And able to go back out on the road but it’s still listed as a defect because it was found in the original inspection.” He assured.