Report finds that traveling by bus is one of the safest forms of transportation available.

Throughout the nation, traveling by school bus has been proven to be one of the safest forms of transportation available. A recent report, entitled “The Relative Risks of School Travel: A National Perspective and Guidance for Local Community Risk Assessment”, which was released by the Transportation Research Board of the National Academies for Science on June 18, 2002, says, in summary, that children are far more at risk traveling to and from school in private passenger vehicles – especially if a teen-age driver is involved than in school buses.

The report shows that every year, about 800 school-age children are killed in motor vehicle crashes during normal school hours accounting for about 14 percent of the 5600 child deaths that occur on the nation’s roadways. Of these 800 deaths, only about 2 percent are school bus-related, while 74 percent occur in private passenger vehicles and 22 percent are the result of pedestrian or bicycle accidents.

Additional information can be found online: Security and Safety Starts with You and Your Child