Thousands of Connecticut children board school buses each day and their parents assume they’ll arrive safely at their destinations. Ensuring that’s the case is the responsibility of Lt. Garfield Green, director of pupil transportation within the Connecticut Department of Motor Vehicles.
Law requires each vehicle undergo a comprehensive inspection once a year. That includes a fleet of about 8,500 buses, plus another 3,000 or so vans and other vehicles used to transport students. Most are owned by private contractors, although some towns operate their own buses, Green said. The inspection checklist includes a thorough assessment of the vehicle’s mechanical components and safety features, as well as less obvious items.
“It’s a heavily regulated industry, so even the exact color of paint and types of tire rims are specified,” Green said. While most vehicles are found to be in compliance with regulations, violators are subject to a $92 fine per violation — standard in the school bus industry.
The vehicle’s owner typically is given 15 days to report that the necessary repairs have been made, and compliance officers reserve the right to re-inspect, particularly in cases where several serious violations were found. “Those forms are signed under penalty of false statement, so if a mechanic makes the unfortunate decision to sign off on a repair but did not actually fix it, they could be arrested,” Green said. “It doesn’t happen often, but we’ve done that before.”
While minor issues are simply cited, more serious problems require buses to be taken out of service immediately. “In some cases, we allow them to move the vehicle to a repair facility although they can’t put kids on it, but for more egregious violations like bad brakes, they have to fix it on the spot or tow it to a facility,” Green said.
In addition to scheduled annual inspections, vehicles are also subject to spot safety checks that might be triggered by driver complaints or a pattern of misbehavior. If problems persist, a civil hearing process ensues. “Nobody wants that, because you’re looking at a minimum $20,000 or $30,000 fine in those cases,” Green said. Most of the time, though, repairs are made promptly, and Connecticut’s buses are considered among the safest in the country, Green said.
