DeKalb School Buses Pass Annual State Inspection, Drivers Recertified

All DeKalb County School buses have passed state inspection.
State Troopers Darryl Winningham and Craig Wilkerson of the Tennessee Highway Patrol, inspectors for this district, completed their evaluation this week of all the buses in the fleet including the substitute buses. Meanwhile all bus drivers in the school system have also been re-certified.
“We had a total of 36 buses inspected and 100% passed. The annual inspection was held this week at the shop and on Monday, January 9 we had driver certification. All drivers passed,” said Jimmy Sprague, School Transportation Supervisor.
“We do a complete level one inspection on the buses. We go from the bottom to the top and inside, outside. We check every bolt. Every nut, tire tread, brake pads, seats. We make sure the dash works and all the lights inside. We want to make sure everything is safe. We check tie rod ends. Everything about the vehicle. We’re always going to find something. No matter how minor we still want to find everything we can find to get it all repaired. But they have done a great job here. The buses are in good shape. What little issues we found were repaired on the spot,” said Trooper Winningham.
The inspectors conduct an annual inspection for three days in January but spot checks may be made during the year.” We spend three days now but we’ll be here more than this once a year. We also do 10% spot checks throughout the year. We just pull in and walk through the lot and say we want to check this bus or look at that bus. They pull them in and we’ll do a complete inspection on them again,” said Trooper Winningham
“The driver class covers new state guidelines and safety of the buses including any operation in adverse weather, traffic, and how to deal with issues that arise while on the route. Proper procedures for evacuating a bus in an emergency are also covered in the class,” said Sprague
“DeKalb County is blessed with good drivers that take pride in their jobs and truly care about the children. My drivers provide transportation for the children in the morning and afternoon and our main objective is to get them safely to and from school each day,” Sprague concluded.