43
Ohio mandates bus inspections for safety
CANFIELD
State inspectors regularly appear at the fairgrounds here to conduct safety inspections of buses used by churches, nursing homes, tour and nonprofit organizations.
The motor-carrier enforcement unit of the Ohio State Highway Patrol conducts these routine annual inspections, which are required for all Ohio-based buses that seat 16 or more people, including the driver, or weigh more than 10,000 pounds.
One of 13 buses inspected on a recent day at the fairgrounds was that of the Youngstown Area Jewish Federation.
Michelle Evans, director of Levy Gardens, a federation-affiliated assisted-living residence, said she’s glad bus inspections are required.
“We want to make sure that the people we’re transporting — that we’re putting them in a safe vehicle. We want to reassure our families and the people of the community that what we’re transporting their loved ones in is a safe vehicle,” for the passengers and the driver, Evans said.
The 2012 federation bus, which passed its first state patrol inspection, has a Ford chassis and a body by Myers Equipment Corp. of Canfield. The federation bought it in mid-April, and it has only 1,645 miles on its odometer.
The bus, which is wheelchair-lift-equipped, weighs 14,500 pounds. It is used to take Levy Gardens residents on shopping and field trips and trips to medical appointments.
It also is used to take residents of Heritage Manor nursing home, another federation affiliate, on field trips, and to transport participants to and from Heritage Manor’s adult day- care program.
“A lot of these buses never used to get looked at until about 10 years ago when we started this program,” said Mike Schneider, a Southington-based state patrol motor-carrier supervisor.
“It raised awareness of safety,” he said of the inspection program. “It’s made our buses a lot safer for the public to travel on.”
The federation bus was checked by Iric Fidram, who affixed a patrol approval sticker to its side after it passed his inspection.
The federation’s air- conditioned bus is capable of carrying eight passengers in regular seats and four wheelchair passengers, or 12 in regular seats and two in wheelchairs, said Russ Inglis, its driver.
“I think it’s great. I mean, it’s for the safety of the passengers, which is a priority,” Inglis said of the inspection program.
Buses with major safety defects are removed from service until repairs are made, and it is a first-degree criminal misdemeanor to operate any bus without a current decal indicating passage of this inspection.
The inspection fee is $100 per bus, and the inspection deadline is May 31 for church, nursing home, tour and nonprofit organization buses.
The patrol inspects school buses at school district bus storage facilities each summer before the new school year begins.
The patrol inspects some 23,000 school buses, 1,200 church buses, and a total of 8,000 in the other categories.
The patrol’s Southington Post handles inspections for eight Northeast Ohio counties, including Trumbull, Mahoning, and Columbiana counties. The inspections typically take about 45 minutes per bus, Schneider said.
The inspections cover lighting devices; brake, steering and frame components; suspension and exhaust systems, tires, wheels, axles, window glass, windshield wipers, mirrors, emergency exits and their markings, seats, floors, storage areas, fire extinguishers and emergency-safety reflectors.
Inspectors board each bus, check the inside, look under the hood, and check the underside with a flashlight, lying on their backs on a wheeled dolly, or creeper.
The inspector watches as the driver opens all of the bus’ emergency exits, including the back door, to assure they are operational, Schneider said.
“These aren’t permitted to have any type of leaks in the exhaust system,” Schneider said of the buses. “They have to have safety triangles,” aboard to alert other motorists if the bus is disabled along a road, he added.
The federation bus has a rear camera and monitor to help the driver see while backing up, together with a dashboard-mounted distance meter that beeps while backing within four feet of any obstruction and gives the precise distance in inches to any rear obstruction.