Another sign that the new school year is just around the corner, the Kansas Highway Patrol is beginning the process of school vehicle inspections. Each year ever school vehicle used to transport students is inspected.

According to the patrol, every July and August troopers, in conjunction with school districts across the state, check all school buses to ensure they are all in good working order.

Troopers will check the buses from the middle of July until the beginning of the school session to make sure the vehicles will load, transport, and unload students safely. Buses and other vehicles throughout the state are also inspected for compliance with safety regulations. A few of the things troopers will be checking are the lights, emergency exits, tires, windshield wipers, fire extinguishers, first aid kits, and emergency spill kits.

Thousands of school vehicles’ equipment and mechanical conditions will be checked as troopers visit each school district. The inspection stickers have been updated this year, as was a joint effort between the Kansas Highway Patrol and the Kansas State Department of Education. For any bus or school vehicle passing inspection from June 1, 2014 through May 31, 2015, a blue sticker will be displayed in the lower driver’s side corner of the windshield. Vehicles that do not comply with safety regulations cannot be used to transport students until all defects are corrected and a trooper rechecks the vehicle.

In 2013, the KHP inspected 11,215 buses and other school vehicles for defects. Over the last 10 years, the Patrol has inspected 95,237 school vehicles that transport students