A look into the numbers following a school bus crash in Mount Pearl reveals a significant portion of school buses failed inspection last year.
At least one student was taken to hospital following what officials are calling a “catastrophic” mechanical failure involving a school bus in Mount Pearl on Monday
The bus was just leaving a school in Mount Pearl when the incident occurred.
According to the school district there was a “sudden jolt,” and a student complaining of a sore back was taken to hospital as a precautionary measure.
Both the RNC and the school board are investigating the incident.
The incident prompted questions in the House of Assembly from the Opposition’s Chris Tibbs about school bus inspections and safety.
Tibbs says the rear axle almost came completely off the bus. The Minister of Service NL, Sarah Stoodley, says the bus in question was inspected before the start of the school year, and again in January.
A dive into numbers between July 1 and October 31 of last year reveals that almost 14 per cent of inspections over that period resulted in a failing grade.
The document lists 1,012 inspections completed in that time-frame.
One-hundred and forty-one of those did not pass inspection and were deemed as either “restricted service,” meaning the bus was unsafe for passengers but could be driven to receive repairs, or “out of service” which means the vehicle was not roadworthy and could not be driven on the road at all without repairs.
