Colonel Eric T. Olson, superintendent of the Missouri State Highway Patrol, announced the results of the Driver and Vehicle Safety Division’s 2021 annual school bus inspection program.
Missouri’s 2021 school bus inspection results are:
School buses rated as “approved” upon initial inspection — 10,807; School buses rated as “defective” upon initial inspection — 822; School buses rated as “out-of-service” upon initial inspection — 264.
Those buses found defective require repair within 10 days. Buses placed out-of-service require correction of the component(s) prior to further usage.
A total of 277 Missouri school districts earned the Patrol’s “Total Fleet Excellence” award in 2021. During the 2021-22 school year, 5,738 buses in these award-winning fleets are eligible to display the Patrol’s “Total Fleet Excellence” sticker in the lower corner of the first window on the passenger entry side of the bus.
For example, 96.8 percent of the 31 buses inspected in the Marshall Public School District were approved; the other 3.2 percent were deemed defective. Lafayette County C-1 (Higginsville) had a perfect score 15 of 15 buses were approved. Cole Camp R-1 also was perfect with 12 of 12 approved. All eight buses inspected in the Green Ridge R-8 School District received approval; as did all six in the Santa Fe R-10 and Wellington-Napoleon School Districts, four in the Norborne R-8 and Tina-Avalon R-2 School Districts, three in the Slater School District, Hardeman R-10 District, the Miami R-1 District, Prairie View State School; and one in the Trinity Lutheran School District.
Missouri school bus inspection results are a matter of public record. Individual school district results for 2021 are available at <https://apps.mshp.dps.mo.gov/MSHPWeb/PatrolDivisions/DVSD/MVI/documents/2020AnnualSchoolBusInspectionResults(1).pdf>.
School bus inspection criteria, including Missouri State Highway Patrol out-of-service criteria are available at <https://www.mshp.dps.missouri.gov/MSHPWeb/PatrolDivisions/DVSD/MVI/documents/schoolBusRegulations.pdf>.