School Bus Fleet

November 2014

A management & maintenance magazine for school transportation fleets

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11 N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 4 • S C H O O L B U S F L E E T NEW REGULATIONS ARE COMING! THE COUNTDOWN TO DECEMBER 2015 HAS BEGUN... STRENGTH Energy-absorbing frame, fne-adjustment teeth and new high-strength webbing come together in a self-tensioning design that is ready for the countdown. See ALL the Great Features at: qstraint.com/qrt-360 3 6 0 F E A T U R E C O U N T D O W N # 2 Meets the Requirements of WC18 and is compatible with WC19 Wheelchairs industry news we anticipate the discovery of trends affecting school bus safety." Not all of the buses in the state have QR codes in place yet. In order for a bus to receive a QR code, it must go through inspection. McLaughlin said it will take the inspection unit a year to enter all the information into the da- tabase. "Before, we were running on a pa- per-based system, and there real- ly was no way to retrieve any of our old data. Whereas now every feld is searchable," McLaughlin said. MSP gives buses one of three rat- ings: pass, yellow or red. When a bus falls into the yellow column, it is in un- satisfactory condition but is safe. The bus has 60 days to be repaired. When a bus receives a red rating, it is not safe to operate and must be taken off the road until it is fxed. Michigan State Police (MSP)'s School Bus Inspection Unit is imple- menting QR code technology to every school bus in the state to allow school districts, contractors and dealers to manage their feets within one system. The agency has been developing this software for the past year to better keep track of each of the state's 17,000 buses. "We were trying to fgure out how to specifcally identify a bus. There could be 50 No. 7 buses in the state, so the assigned bus number didn't re- ally do us that much good," said Sgt. Mike McLaughlin of the MSP School Bus Inspection Unit. "QR codes for public access is unique and helps pro- vide transparency of the inspection process." By using the QR code reader on a smartphone, parents can fnd out what district the bus belongs to and whether the bus meets the safety cri- teria to pass inspection. Michigan school buses are required to have annual inspections. The oper- ational lights, brakes, steering compo- nents and suspension are some of the main functions checked during each inspection. "Violation repairs are document- ed from the log-in, and a complete inspection history is maintained," McLaughlin said. "Because of the data search capability of the application, Michigan school buses use QR codes to improve safety (BY BECKY MAY) QR codes are being used for Michigan school buses to keep track of inspections and other information. Get the SBF Newsline! • Safety issues • New legislation • Success stories • Industry insight Sign up at Schoolbusfeet.com Keep up with breaking news

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