While New Jersey officials can currently seek only minimal fines against violators, their counterparts on the federal level can actually shut down an unsafe bus company. We do it only as a last resort. The decision is based on accident rates and the results of surprise roadside inspections conducted by state transportation departments. But the analysis is only as good as the information the federal DOT receives. Rotundo said it would be easier to identify unsafe bus carriers if other states performed as many inspections as New Jersey does.
Few states come even close.
In fiscal 1996, New Jersey performed 4,635 inspections. Rotundo said there should soon be a dramatic increase in the number of roadside inspections that other states are doing - partially because of what the New Jersey figures show. About 14 percent of the buses inspected at roadsides in New Jersey were taken off the road because of serious safety defects last year. An unsatisfactory rating will result in the shutdown of a company if its safety defects have not been corrected within 45 days. Since 1991, the number of interstate bus companies in the United States has nearly tripled to around 10,000.