WRAL investigates school bus inspections

As a parent, the first day you put your child on a school bus is tough. You’re turning over your child’s safety to the school system.

Statistically, it’s safer for the 750,000 North Carolina public school students transported by school buses than those in the car pool line. Still, WRAL Investigates found state maintenance records that raise real concerns – bad brakes, fuel line leaks, etc.

After coming across state inspection records for Wake County school buses, we started digging deeper for inspections across the WRAL viewing area.

The Department of Public Instruction has a team that conducts annual inspections of school systems across the state. WRAL found a school bus that carries elementary school students with a defect rating more than five times the state average. We found a local system where state inspectors pulled 72 percent of the buses examined off the road immediately.