With little fanfair, the U.S. Department of Transportation has quietly increased safety oversight of busing companies, taking more dangerous motor carriers off the road in the last two years than in the previous nine years combined.

Writes the Commercial Carrier Journal: The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration(FMCSA) also has doubled the number of bus inspections and safety reviews of the nation’s estimated 4,000 passenger bus companies. Roadside inspections of motorcoaches have jumped nearly 100 percent, from 12,991 in 2005 to 25,703 in 2010, while compliance reviews are up 128 percent, from 457 in 2005 to 1,042 in 2010. In addition, FMCSA has initiated a greater number of enforcement cases against unsafe passenger carriers under the current administration: these cases have risen from 36 in 2008 to 44 in 2010.

The DOT now is asking Congress to allow greater ability to conduct safety inspections of buses and trucks and to require new motorcoach companies to undergo stringent safety audits. Transportation attorney Chuck Noteboom says the focus on bus safety is necessary. "Too often we've seen the deadly results of fly-by-night bus and truck operators who have been allowed to avoid scrutiny for too long," he says.

According to the CCJ, in May, FMCSA and its state and local law enforcement partners conducted more than 3,000 surprise passenger carrier safety inspections over a two-week period that resulted in 442 unsafe buses or drivers being removed from the nation’s roadways. The strike force took 127 unsafe drivers and 315 unsafe vehicles off the road during these unannounced inspections.