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ALPINE — Over 130 school buses in the Alpine School District were deemed unsafe or dangerous after the most recent state inspection.
The Department of Public Safety and the Utah Highway Patrol inspect school bus fleets twice a year, once in the spring and again in the fall.
The four-day fleet inspection for Alpine School District in October put almost half of the buses out of service after they failed the fall assessment. UHP found hundreds of "out of service" violations, which include significant hazards to the driver and dangers to the students onboard, said UHP Sgt. Jason Kelsey.
“Things like obstructed emergency exits, flat tires, loading lights that control traffic not being operational or both headlights being inoperable," he said.
Things like obstructed emergency exits, flat tires, loading lights that control traffic not being operational or both headlights being inoperable.
–UHP Sgt. Jason Kelsey
Alpine School District received the highest "out of service" rating out of all the districts in the state of Utah in six out of the last eight inspections over the past four years. This is something UHP says it's been working on with the district for years. After the initial inspection is done, it's up to the district to make the changes.
“In the inspection process, what happens is we declare the vehicles out of service and the school districts are required to (fix them) before they place them back in service,” Kelsey said.
It's not standard for UHP to do any follow-up inspections, but it says it might with this district. District spokesperson John Patten said the district made all necessary repairs within 72 hours of receiving the report in October so no buses or routes were affected. All buses were back in service before the start of the school year, he added.
Six in-house mechanics and other outsourced mechanics worked on the buses to ensure the repairs were made, Patten said.
District officials know they need to make a long-term plan to hire additional mechanics and allocate resources and money to maintain the buses to ensure the safety of the district's students, Patten said, and they are working on that plan.
