MADISON, Wis. (WSAU) — The start of school means starting up thousands of school buses. Every one of those big, yellow buses has to be in good working order by law. Wisconsin State Patrol Lieutenant Karl Mittelstadt says inspecting every school bus is no small task. “There are approximately 11,000 school buses in the state of Wisconsin, and each one of them is inspected by a school bus inspector at least once a year. We do have a spot check program as well.”
Mittelstadt says they have inspectors in southeast Wisconsin that do nothing but school buses, while inspectors in the northern part of the state may be inspecting buses, trucks, and other vehicles.
Lieutenant Mittelstadt says there is a lengthy checklist of things every school bus must pass, or it is taken out of service. “There’s a lot of parts and pieces on a school bus. We have administrative code, Trans 300, that says exactly what a school bus needs on it, and inspectors check everything from tires, suspension, brakes, steering components, the color of the bus, right down to how wide and how high the school bus lettering is. That is mandated, as well.”
Yes, School Bus Glossy Yellow is the only shade of yellow you can paint a school bus used to transport students.
Drivers will have to watch for the flashing red lights. Mittelstadt says it won’t be long until Wisconsin drivers see both amber and red flashing lights on school buses, as seen in other states. “The amber eight-light warning system is coming to Wisconsin. We’re currently going through a rule making process, and the amber warning lights will be coming. Wisconsin is the last state in the nation that hasn’t adopted it yet.”
He says the state is working with the owners of the buses and their associations to finalize the rules. Mittelstadt anticipates Wisconsin’s 11,000 school buses will be retrofitted with the additional amber warning lights by either 2016 or 2017. “A school bus is the only vehicle in our state that can have a white strobe light, so that even helps bring attention, not that you can’t see the big yellow bus going down the road, but in foggy, snowing, raining conditions, that white strobe light kind of throws a halo around the vehicle, and helps bring that to people’s attention as well.”
When it’s foggy and visibility is very poor, you will see the flashing strobe light before you see the school bus.
(Listen to our interview with Lt. Karl Mittelstadt on our website, here.)