§ 115C-248. Inspection of school buses and activity buses; report of defects by drivers; discontinuing use until defects remedied.
§ 115C‑248. Inspection of school buses and activity buses; report of defects by drivers;discontinuing use until defects remedied.
(a) The superintendent of each local school administrative unit,shall cause each school bus owned or operated by such local schooladministrative unit to be inspected at least once each 30 days during theschool year for mechanical defects, or other defects which may affect the safeoperation of such bus. A report of such inspection, together with therecommendations of the person making the inspection, shall be filed promptly inthe office of the superintendent of such local school administrative unit, anda copy thereof shall be forwarded to the principal of the school to which suchbus is assigned.
(b) It shall be the duty of the driver of each school bus toreport promptly to the principal of the school, to which such bus is assigned,any mechanical defect or other defect which may affect the safe operation ofthe bus when such defect comes to the attention of the driver, and theprincipal shall thereupon report such defect to the superintendent of the localschool administrative unit. It shall be the duty of the superintendent of thelocal school administrative unit to cause any and all such defects to becorrected promptly.
(c) If any school bus is found by the principal of the school,to which it is assigned, or by the superintendent of the local schooladministrative unit, to be so defective that the bus may not be operated withreasonable safety, it shall be the duty of such principal or superintendent tocause the use of such bus to be discontinued until such defect is remedied, inwhich event the principal of the school, to which such bus is assigned, maypermit the use of a different bus assigned to such school in the transportationof the pupils and employees assigned to the bus found to be defective.
(d) The superintendent of each local school administrative unit,shall cause each activity bus which is used for the transportation of studentsby such local school administrative unit or any public school system therein tobe inspected for mechanical defects, or other defects which may affect the safeoperation of such activity bus, at the same time and in the same way and manneras the regular public school buses for the normal transportation of publicschool pupils are inspected. A report of such inspection, together with therecommendations of the person making the inspection, shall be filed with theprincipal of the school which uses and operates such activity bus and a copyshall be forwarded to the superintendent of the local school administrativeunit involved. It shall be the duty of the driver of each activity bus to makethe same reports to the principal of the school using and operating suchactivity bus as is required by this section. If any public school activity busis found to be so defective that the activity bus may not be operated withreasonable safety, it shall be the duty of such principal to cause the use ofsuch activity bus to be discontinued until such defect is remedied to thesatisfaction of the person making the inspection and a report to this effecthas been filed in the manner herein prescribed. Nothing in this subsectionshall authorize the use of State funds for the purchase, operation or repair ofany activity bus. (1955, c. 1372,art. 21, s. 8; 1961, c. 474; 1975, c. 150, s. 2; 1981, c. 423, s. 1.)