Vehicle Inspection and Pre-Trip Procedures
Vehicle Inspection and Pre-Trip Procedures
This domain tests pre-trip and post-trip inspection of a passenger vehicle, including the systems unique to buses: passenger doors, emergency exits, lifts, and interior safety equipment. Questions often ask what defect makes a bus unsafe to dispatch.
Walk-around and under-hood checks
- Tires: tread depth, sidewall damage, proper inflation, lug nuts, and dual spacing.
- Lights: headlights, turn signals, brake lights, clearance lights, and reverse lights.
- Brakes: air-brake test on air-brake buses (leak, low-pressure warning, parking brake), or hydraulic brake check; test parking brake.
- Steering, suspension, exhaust, mirrors, windshield, wipers, horn, and fluid leaks.
Passenger-compartment checks
- Entry door: opens, closes, latches, and seals; the door control works from the driver's seat.
- Emergency exits: every side window exit, roof hatch, and rear door opens from inside; latches secure; exit instructions and alarms are present. Remove obstructions.
- Fire extinguisher: mounted, gauge in the charged range, pin and seal intact. First aid kit, body-fluid kit, and reflective triangles are present.
- Seats and handrails: secure, not torn; stanchions tight; aisle and stepwells clear.
- Wheelchair lift/ramp: cycles through deploy, lower, raise, and stow; interlocks prevent the bus from moving when the lift is deployed.
Worked example
A pre-trip shows the rear emergency door handle moves but the door will not latch from inside, and the fire extinguisher gauge reads low. Neither is a "maybe." The bus cannot be dispatched with a non-latching emergency exit or a discharged extinguisher; the defects must be repaired and rechecked, and the dispatcher must be told. A cosmetic scratch is not a reason to hold the bus; a non-working exit is.
Post-trip
Walk the bus after every run: check for sleeping passengers, lost items, damage, and anything left in the aisle. Do not just lock the door.
Traps
- Checking only the outside and skipping exit operation.
- Assuming a new bus needs no lift test.
- Missing a low extinguisher gauge because it is mounted out of sight.
- Forgetting that baggage-compartment doors must be closed and latched.