Hundreds of buses in Southwest Virginia don't have interlock brakes

The VDOE is asking all school districts to come up to compliance

SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA – School buses are now the subject of scrutiny in the Commonwealth. According to an investigation by the Virginia Department of Education, thousands across the state don't have interlock brakes installed. That's a safety feature required by law on most buses, but many in Southwest Virginia don't have it.

The law in Virginia states that all buses manufactured after 2011 have to have interlocking brakes installed, but hundreds across Southwest Virginia don't, and the Virginia Department of Education says that's a problem that needs to be fixed quickly. The Department of Education says, for buses, interlocking brakes are especially important for safety.

"What that feature does is forces the driver to depress the brake pedal on the floor before the parking brake valve can be released," said Kerry Miller, Associate Director for Pupil Transportation.

Unlike cars, school buses can't shift into "park", so the parking brake holds it in place while it sits in neutral. The concern is that without interlocking brakes, a bus could have its parking brake knocked loose, allowing it to potentially roll into traffic.

In the city of Roanoke, the private company Mountain Valley Transportation says its buses are all up to date, but that compliance doesn't seem to be the norm.

WSLS 10 asked around, and four separate school systems say they have work to do. In Bedford County for instance, which has 47 buses out of compliance, your child has a 21% chance of getting on a bus in the morning that isn't equipped with interlocking brakes. In Henry County, which has 30 buses out of compliance, that number is 22%. Meanwhile, in Danville, 19 buses still need to be equipped with the brakes, and in Lynchburg, 43 buses are currently out of compliance. The Department of Education says its glad the summer is almost here, so the issue can be dealt with quickly.

"Luckily we're at the end of the, towards the end of the school year, so the majority of these buses are going to be complete this summer without the buses being used at all, so we sort of caught this at an opportune time," said Miller.

Every school system that WSLS 10 spoke with says the intent is to have all of the buses equipped with interlocking brakes by the beginning of next school year, as long as the parts remain in stock.