For motorcoach operators who have been scaling back on maintenance or ignoring the administrative requirements of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations, this could be a long, hot summer, as well as a troublesome fall and winter.

Thats because federal and state safety agencies and inspection units across the U.S. are either stepping up or planning to devote more attention to bus and motorcoach safety checks.

Operators sending coaches to the Grand Canyon are getting a taste of the heightened activity right now -- as in today and tomorrow -- as the National Park Service and the Arizona Department of Public Safety conduct a spring inspection blitz. There likely will be a second saturated inspection program at the canyon in the fall.

Next month, operators everywhere, especially those in states with dedicated bus inspection programs, also will see tangible evidence of the increased interest in coach safety.

The annual Roadcheck program, conducted by the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance and its federal, state and provincial partners, plans to focus special attention on motorcoach safety during this years three-day inspection program. That doubtless will translate into more safety checks at casinos, theme parks and other popular destinations commonly used as inspection sites.

The 07 Roadcheck will be June 7-9 in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Last year during Roadcheck, a record number of coaches were inspected 1,238, and 9.2 percent were put out of service.

Earlier this spring, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration announced it expects to conduct a record number of compliance reviews of motorcoach operators this year. Its stated goal is to conduct a compliance review of every coach operator that has never had a CR.

Fully 40 percent of all U.S. interstate motorcoach companies could undergo a compliance review this year if the FMCSA meets its target of inspecting 1,600 coach operators.

Across the U.S., safety officials, from the administrator of the FMCSA down to managers of state inspection programs, currently see motorcoach safety as a "hot topic," as one state highway patrol supervisor told Bus & Motorcoach News.

Been there, done that
Long-time coach operators have seen it before: High-profile accidents or incidents focus increased attention on bus industry safety, and officials ramp up inspection efforts.

This year has produced a handful of such triggering events, including the deadly plunge off an exit ramp of a motorcoach carrying a college baseball team; the findings of the National Transportation Safety Board in the Hurricane Rita bus fire tragedy; the rash of crashes involving cut-rate ethnic bus operators in the East; the increased attention the news media has given to bus-related incidents, and not just accidents.

Last month alone, media glare from coaches being used to transport large quantities of illegal drugs and illegal aliens gave the industry a major black eye. The problem with those incidents, of course, is they reinforce the cloud of shoddiness that has long hovered over the industry.

While increased attention from safety regulators has seemingly been a cyclical occurrence in the past, the current wave of attention has all the earmarks of being longer-lived.

The FMCSA and its safety enforcement programs have been under almost constant attack for much of the past year from a host of critics, ranging from the NTSB, to safety advocates, to Congress, and the agency isnt happy about it.

More criticism
Last month, U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., became the latest member of Congress to blast the FMCSA, taking the agency to task for "ineffective" compliance reviews.

She cited Washington Post coverage of a trucker with traffic citations in seven states including, in one state, seven license suspensions in 11 years who was driving on a suspended license when he crashed into a vehicle on the Capital Beltway in March, killing a 33-year-old father of two.

A little more than three weeks before the Beltway accident, the FMCSA did a full-scale compliance review of BK Trucking, Murray said. Inspectors found a few problems, mostly with log books, but found no "critical" or "acute" violations, she said.

Three days after the accident the agency revisited the company and discovered:

Improper lease agreements.

Lack of compliance with drug and alcohol testing procedures.

Drivers with suspended commercial driver licenses.

Failure to maintain records of state inspections.

Maintaining false log books.

Failure to turn in log books.

Failure to prepare driver inspection reports.

"So, just one month after the FMCSA conducted a compliance review and found only minimal problems, the agency did another compliance review and found multiple violations and wrote up fines totaling $77,000," Murray said.

Appearing before Murrays subcommittee, FMCSA Administrator John Hill did not address the BK Trucking case directly, but he told the subcommittee his agency does many effective compliance reviews and places many carriers out of service. "We know from analysis of our compliance review programs that after a compliance review, carriers improve their safety operations," Hill said.

Feds solution: More money
To increase its effectiveness and help blunt criticism, the FMCSA wants an increase in its budget, enabling it to step up the number of compliance reviews it conducts annually.

For fiscal year 2008, the FMCSA is seeking $528 million, of which $228 million is for motor carrier safety operations and programs and $300 million is for motor carrier safety grants.

Hill told Congress the goals are:

To prioritize the Motor Carrier Safety Assistance Program for buses and focus enforcement on curbside buses.

To conduct more roadside enforcement and inspections, in cooperation with states and localities.

To test the Comprehensive Safety Analysis 2010 program, designed as a new approach to safety fitness ratings.

To increase efficiency within the agency.

Ninety-three percent of the FMCSA budget, or $489 million, focuses on reducing truck and bus crashes, Hill said.

Hills budget request for FY 2008 is nearly twice the amount of the agencys $272 million budget in fiscal 2001.

The safety checks currently under way at the Grand Canyon involve mechanical inspection of coaches by Arizona Department of Public Safety officers and auditing of drivers by National Park Service rangers. Drivers will be checked for compliance with Park Service permit regulations, including "commercial use authorizations," plus there will be inspections of CDLs, medical cards, log books, registration and insurance.

The inspections are being conducted on the canyons large parking lots, and while passengers are sightseeing.